+
Sign up for
The Upworthiest
Our top stories of the day delivered straight to your inbox.
upworthy

extinction

Science

The oldest whales on the planet are more ancient than 'Moby-Dick' and have the harpoons to prove it

Wow... just wow.

Image from Pixabay.

Under the sea...

True
The Wilderness Society


You're probably familiar with the literary classic "Moby-Dick."

But in case you're not, here's the gist: Moby Dick is the name of a huge albino sperm whale.

(Get your mind outta the gutter.)

There's this dude named Captain Ahab who really really hates the whale, and he goes absolutely bonkers in his quest to hunt and kill it, and then everything is awful and we all die unsatisfied with our shared sad existence and — oops, spoilers!


OK, technically, the narrator Ishmael survives. So it's actually a happy ending (kind of)!

whales, Moby Dick, poaching endangered species

Illustration from an early edition of Moby-Dick

Image from Wikimedia Commons.

Basically, it's a famous book about revenge and obsession that was published back in 1851, and it's really, really long.

It's chock-full of beautiful passages and dense symbolism and deep thematic resonance and all those good things that earned it a top spot in the musty canon of important literature.

There's also a lot of mundane descriptions about the whaling trade as well (like, a lot). That's because it came out back when commercial whaling was still a thing we did.

conservation, ocean water conservation

A non-albino mother and baby sperm whale.

Photo by Gabriel Barathieu/Wikipedia.

In fact, humans used to hunt more than 50,000 whales each year to use for oil, meat, baleen, and oil. (Yes, I wrote oil twice.) Then, in 1946, the International Whaling Commission stepped in and said "Hey, wait a minute, guys. There's only a few handful of these majestic creatures left in the entire world, so maybe we should try to not kill them anymore?"

And even then, commercial whaling was still legal in some parts of the world until as recently as 1986.

International Whaling Commission, harpoons

Tail in the water.

Whale's tail pale ale GIF via GoPro/YouTube

And yet by some miracle, there are whales who were born before "Moby-Dick" was published that are still alive today.

What are the odds of that? Honestly it's hard to calculate since we can't exactly swim up to a bowhead and say, "Hey, how old are you?" and expect a response. (Also that's a rude question — jeez.)

Thanks to some thoughtful collaboration between researchers and traditional Inupiat whalers (who are still allowed to hunt for survival), scientists have used amino acids in the eyes of whales and harpoon fragments lodged in their carcasses to determine the age of these enormous animals — and they found at least three bowhead whales who were living prior to 1850.

Granted those are bowheads, not sperm whales like the fictional Moby Dick, (and none of them are albino, I think), but still. Pretty amazing, huh?

whale blubber, blue whales, extinction

This bowhead is presumably in adolescence, given its apparent underwater moping.

GIF via National Geographic.

This is a particularly remarkable feat considering that the entire species was dwindling near extinction.

Barring these few centenarian leviathans, most of the whales still kickin' it today are between 20 and 70 years old. That's because most whale populations were reduced to 10% or less of their numbers between the 18th and 20th centuries, thanks to a few over-eager hunters (and by a few, I mean all of them).

Today, sperm whales are considered one of the most populous species of massive marine mammals; bowheads, on the other hand, are still in trouble, despite a 20% increase in population since the mid-1980s. Makes those few elderly bowheads that much more impressive, huh?

population, Arctic, Great Australian Blight

Southern Right Whales hangin' with a paddleboarder in the Great Australian Bight.

GIF via Jaimen Hudson.

Unfortunately, just as things are looking up, these wonderful whales are in trouble once again.

We might not need to worry our real-life Captain Ahabs anymore, but our big aquatic buddies are still being threatened by industrialization — namely, from oil drilling in the Arctic and the Great Australian Bight.

In the off-chance that companies like Shell and BP manage not to spill millions of gallons of harmful crude oil into the water, the act of drilling alone is likely to maim or kill millions of animals, and the supposedly-safer sonic blasting will blow out their eardrums or worse.

This influx of industrialization also affects their migratory patterns — threatening not only the humans who depend on them, but also the entire marine ecosystem.

And I mean, c'mon — who would want to hurt this adorable face?

social responsibility, nature, extinction

BOOP.

Image from Pixabay.

Whales might be large and long-living. But they still need our help to survive.

If you want another whale to make it to his two-hundred-and-eleventy-first birthday (which you should because I hear they throw great parties), then sign this petition to protect the waters from Big Oil and other industrial threats.

I guarantee Moby Dick will appreciate it.


This article originally appeared on 11.04.15

From Your Site Articles
Most Shared

One of the most endangered birds on the planet just had a huge bounce back.

The kakapo parrot is one of the most endangered species in the world.

There are currently fewer than 200 of the flightless birds from New Zealand on the planet. That's a big problem, especially when you consider that (surprise, surprise) human beings are largely responsible for their dwindling population.

Hundreds of years ago, humans hunted them for their skin and feathers. In the 1800s, land clearance and the introduction of mammalian predators (like dogs) in New Zealand further reduced their ability to survive.

For decades, scientists have exhausted their options trying to bring the kakapo population back from the brink. They've tried everything.

And when I say everything, I mean everything. Including a "sperm helmet" that scientists wore on their heads to collect semen samples after they noticed the kakapos would routinely try to mate with people's heads.

Photo by Neil Sandas/AFP/Getty Images.

Needless to say, it didn't work.

In 2016, though, things are actually looking up for the little birds, as an incredible 33 kakapo chicks were recently born in New Zealand.

Incredibly, the kakapos made it happen all on their own, no sperm helmets needed. Thanks to the conservation efforts of the last several decades, the birds just had a very successful mating season.

They look as terrifying, as baby birds usually do (is it just me?), but their birth represents a huge win for conservation efforts that have been going on since at least 1891.

A conservation scientist who is NOT Bernie Sanders. Photo via Don Merton/Department of Conservation/Flickr.

Protecting endangered species is important for many reasons.

Like biodiversity, balancing ecosystems, and even climate change. It isn't always easy, and it doesn't always work — hell, just think of the poor guy who had to test out the ill-fated sperm helmet.

When it works out though, it's a big win for the world.

From Your Site Articles
Most Shared

Conservationists in Africa came up with a genius way to save elephants: move them.

Human beings haven't always been the best of friends to elephants.

Photo by Brian Snelson/Flickr.

While we've written some of our most delightful children's books about them...

We've done OK by Babar. Photo by Jean de Brunhoff/Wikimedia Commons.

...we've also poached them for centuries, destroyed their habitats, and generally been pretty bad at sharing our planet with them.

Illegal ivory sits in a storeroom in Kenya. Photo by Carl de Souza/Getty Images.

Recently, conservationists in Malawi decided to tranquilize 500 elephants, pick them up by their hind legs, and drive them almost 200 miles across bumpy savannah on the back of a truck. And while it might look like yet another attempt to mess with these gentle creatures...

Photo by Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/AP.

...it actually might be the nicest thing we've done for elephants in quite some time.

While the task was anything but nice, the goal was simple: to relocate the animals from two Malawi national parks where they're (relatively) plentiful to a park with more room and, thereby, more safety for the elephants.

"This is very much the way that we'll have to manage things in the future," Craig Reid, manager of the country's Liwonde National Park, told The Associated Press.

According to the AP, who embedded with the team, the project is one of the largest-ever and most logistically complicated relocations of its kind.

Similar moves have been made before, but few have been attempted with so many animals.

Moving the elephants required enlisting a fleet of helicopters, cranes, and trucks as well as a team of dedicated pilots, drivers, and conservationists to manage the creatures as they made their way across the country.

It's the latest attempt to give these giant, emotionally complex animals a chance to recover.

An elephant strides around Kenya. Photo by Tony Karumba/Getty Images.

African elephants — highly social creatures who have been shown to react to each other's pain, soothe suffering friends, and even grieve for their dead — used to number in the millions, but rampant hunting has caused their population decline over decades — by as much as 80% in some areas.

More recently, increases in demand for ivory has led to a surge in poaching, and human encroachment is always a threat.

The World Wildlife Fund estimates their numbers today at approximately 470,000.

Project managers are prioritizing moving the elephants with their families.

An elephant mother with her calf at the London Zoo. Photo by Adrien Dennis/Getty Images.

According to conservationists on the team, keeping mothers and calves together is key to the success of the relocation because elephants, like humans, form tight familial bonds.

Relocating hundreds of the huge creatures is challenging, and there are potential drawbacks.

Some conservationists worry that mass artificial migration could facilitate the spread of disease, and being handled by humans with giant cranes can, understandably, stress out the animals.

But if the end result is more elephants, many experts believe it's a chance worth taking.

Photo by Lucas Schulze/Getty Images.

WWF African species manager Bas Huijbregts told the AP that the relocation project would be "a win-win for elephants and people" and hopes that it "will likely become the new norm in many places in Africa."

The best part? We get to brag about doing the elephants a solid for once.

It may not look like it.

Photo by Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/AP.

But one day, they'll totally appreciate us for it.

Photo by Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/AP.

Maybe.

Most Shared

A 16-year-old kid caught footage of this rare bird thought to be extinct in the wild.

The Spix's macaw is a pretty dope bird.

Photo by Patrick Pleul/Getty Images.

Yes, its face is permanently fixed in one of those "I'm always watching" stares.

You. You know. Photo by Patrick Pleul/Getty Images.

Yes, it has creepy-looking babies.

Photo by Patrick Pleul/Getty Images.

But it's a pretty chill and harmless bird — unless you're a seed or a nut. Spix's macaws mate for life and their courtship rituals can last years. And they're generally majestic as hell.

Photo by Patrick Pleul/Getty Images.

The last time someone saw one in the wild was in 2000.

Since then, researchers have assumed that humans did to the species what humans do best: killed off all but the few hundred of them we keep in cages for our amusement.

That is ... until June, when footage of a Spix's macaw mid-flight was taken by a 16-year-old and confirmed by experts soon thereafter.

Birds have been getting the short end of the stick for at least the last 500 years, at least when it comes to extinction rates.

Birds. Photo by Violetta/Pixabay.

According to a BirdLife International analysis, nearly 150 species of birds have gone extinct since 1500, with an estimated 22 of those extinctions occurring in the last 50 years.

Which makes the discovery of a wild Spix's macaw a rare spot of good news for the larger avian-verse. Researchers hope that observing the bird in its natural habitat will give them insight into how to revive the already seriously endangered species.

Needless to say, scientists are super psyched to have seen one in the wild, and so are members of the local community, for whom the Spix's macaw is a major source of pride.

Pedro Devely, CEO of SAVE Brazil, a conservation group, explained why the bird's reappearance is especially meaningful to residents of Curaca, Brazil — where the footage was taken — in an interview with NPR:

"The Spix's Macaw is kind of a symbol of the city, and the local community is really proud of the existence of the Spix's Macaw there. And when the Spix's Macaw disappeared in 2000, it was kind of traumatic for them. Because they lost the symbol of the city, something really unique. And since then there has been a big expectation for the return of the Spix's Macaw. They are really waiting for that."

We've thrown a lot at this little bird.

Deforestation, habitat destruction, and forced captivity ain't nothing to sneeze at.

Yet, miraculously, despite all that, Dr. Ian Malcolm's famous adage still holds true:

GIF from "Jurassic Park."

At least for one lucky parrot species.

Fly, Spix's macaw. Fly!

Image via BirdLife International/YouTube.

Fly free and never look back!

From Your Site Articles
Trending Stories