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Did You Know?

• The Bowhead Whale is second in size to only one other whale, the Blue Whale
• The mouth of Bowhead Whale is the largest mouth found in the animal kingdom
• Researchers believe this massive whale could potentially live up to 200 years old

The Big Mouth of the Sea

Let’s start with the largest mouth in the world. Believe it or not, the Bowhead Whale has a mouth that spans a width of more than 3 meters (9.8 feet), which means their mouth is typically larger than most humans. So what is in this gigantic mouth? Well, since these particular whales are part of the Baleen Whale family, their mouth contains 300 baleen plates used to filter out all kinds of fun ocean creatures such as zooplankton, other invertebrates and even fish. We are just lucky that this enormous whale doesn’t have a taste for human meat.

How Big is the Bowhead Whale?

You are classified as the second largest animal without having some size to you, right? So just how big are these majestic creatures? On average an adult Bowhead Whale will be somewhere around 14 metres (40 feet) long with a weight of approximately 100 tons (200,000 pounds). Yeah, those numbers are pretty impressive. It is funny to think that even the babies are larger than most other animals on the planet. A newborn bowhead will have an average length around 4 metres (13 feet) and will typically weight about 900 kilograms (2000 pounds). It is a good thing the adults are so large because I am pretty sure giving birth to a 2000 pound baby would not be a pleasant experience.

In a Whale of Trouble

Prior to 1966, it was open season on Bowhead hunting, which resulted in the decimation of their natural population. This enormous mammal made an easy target since they are slow swimmers…and of course very large. Before the Bowhead became a popular whaling target, researchers estimated the global population to be steady around 50, 000 individuals; however, by 1920, this population had dwindled to about 3000 individuals. Luckily, in 1966 a moratorium was put in place to protect this believed creature from whaling and this has resulted in a tremendous rebound in their population. Currently, the population of Bowhead Whales is estimated at 24, 000, which is up considerably…but we still have some work to do if we want to keep them swimming freely in our oceans.