He carried a piece of the past under his skin and kept going.

 He carried a piece of the past under his skin and kept going.

In Alaska, hunters landed a bowhead whale and found a metal point buried deep in his back. It was the head of a 19th century explosive harpoon.

The tip was made in New Bedford in the late 1800s. That means he had survived a human attack more than 100 years earlier.

He lived a long time with that wound. Thick blubber and a tough body kept him moving through Arctic ice and dark water.

The find helped confirm what many suspected. Bowheads can reach well over a century. Some may live close to 200 years.

It’s a hard story with a quiet kind of awe. A life that outlasted its hunters. A reminder of what endurance looks like in the wild.

References

A Whale Of A Tale - CBS News

Weapon fragment from 1800s found in whale - Reuters

Patented harpoon pins down whale age - Nature News via BioEd Online

Two historical weapon fragments as an aid to estimating the age of bowhead whales - Polar Biology

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