All About the Bowhead Whale PDF

# All About the Bowhead Whale By Annie Kiyonaga The Arctic is one of the most intense environments for any animal to survive in. The long, cold winters are harsh and snowy, with thick ice floes covering much of the Arctic Ocean. Ice floes are thick sheets of ice that float in the ocean. Sea creatu...

# All About the Bowhead Whale By Annie Kiyonaga The Arctic is one of the most intense environments for any animal to survive in. The long, cold winters are harsh and snowy, with thick ice floes covering much of the Arctic Ocean. Ice floes are thick sheets of ice that float in the ocean. Sea creatures that live in the Arctic waters have adapted in special ways to survive there. One remarkable animal living in the Arctic is the bowhead whale. ## Bowhead Whales: Baleen Whales Bowhead whales are baleen whales. Baleen whales filter food through the baleen plates in their mouths. These baleen plates are kind of like combs. Bowhead whales open their mouths and take in a lot of ocean water. Their baleen plates act like filters, so while the water is pushed out of the whales' mouths, small crustaceans are kept in. These crustaceans include shrimp and krill. Bowhead whales have to filter a lot of water in order to get enough food. These whales eat about 220,000 pounds of food a year! This helps explain how they get so big. A fully grown bowhead whale can be up to about 60 feet long and weigh up to about 200,000 pounds. ## Bowhead Whale Migration Bowhead whales migrate to follow food sources. Cold water usually has more small crustaceans in it, so in the winter, bowhead whales stay close to the edges of the big sheets of ice that form in the ocean. In the summer, some of that ice melts as the Arctic warms up. Bowhead whales swim farther north in the summer. They are one of the only whale species that lives their whole life in the Arctic. Bowhead whales' bodies are built to survive in the Arctic waters. They have the thickest blubber layer of any whale. Blubber is a thick layer of fat that keeps sea animals warm. The blubber layer in bowhead whales is 17 to 19 inches thick. Also, bowhead whales have skulls that are especially thick and strong. This makes them perfect for a very specific task. Their strong skulls allow these whales to break through ice floes as thick as eight inches. Some of Alaska's indigenous people have reported seeing bowhead whales break through ice floes that are two feet thick! ## Bowhead Whale Communication Like other whales, bowhead whales use sound to help them survive. Bowhead whales produce a variety of sounds. Sometimes, they produce one constant note. Other times, they make lots of different noises at different pitches. Researchers think that bowhead whales use these sounds, sometimes called "songs," to communicate with each other. Bowhead whales may also use these songs to navigate or find food. Some other whales, including humpback whales, usually have one song that they sing consistently. But bowhead whales change their songs all the time. ## Bowhead Whale Lifespan Another especially interesting thing about bowhead whales is how long they live. Scientists are able to track the ages of bowhead whales by studying harpoons that they find in the whales' skin. Harpoons are special kinds of spears that people use to hunt whales. By studying harpoons in some bowhead whales, scientists have discovered that bowhead whales might be able to live over 200 years! Some evidence suggests that they can live as long as 250 years. This makes them one of the longest-living mammals in the world. So if you ever see a bowhead whale, just think... that whale could have been born in the 1800s!