List members , the Bowhead whale genome shows it's cells are cancer resistant and tumour resistant...these are the genetic qualities needed for a creature to live longer than 200 years - so it isn't surprising that this Arctic giant is also the longest living mammal (on Earth's outer surface at least) .
Besides being the longest living whale , Bowheads also have the biggest mouth for feeding , the best hearing underwater and the thickest layer of blubber (fat) amongst all whale species . To me , this creature seems to have been designed for something really special - a special feat , like spending some part of it's life inside Hollow Earth perhaps ??
The Inuit people infact have strange legends of having telepathic sort of communication with bowheads . They believe Bowheads can communicate with them at the level of thought about conditions in their environment , even offering themselves up for the whale hunters of yore , for rebirth as humans . It gets really weird the more you go down this rabbit hole of the bowhead whale mysteries !
**Bowhead is probably the only whale species that benefits from the Hollow Earth environment ! I believe that is the true secret for it's longevity :))
Oldest-Living Whale Genome Cracked By Scientists
Published On 01/05/2015
Flickr/Ansgar Walk
At 200 years old, a senior bowhead whale alive today has lived through a lot - the industrial revolution, the heydey of whaling and even the sinking of the Titanic. But it wasn't until now that scientists really knew exactly why these 100-ton behemoths were living so long in comparison to other whales.
Scientists working on two different studies have finally collectively mapped the bowhead whale's genome, comparing its genes with that of a minke whale - a species that typically lives for 30 to 50 years. The findings show that the bowhead genome had unique mutations in two genes - the ERCC1 gene and the PCNA gene - linked to longevity of life as well as cancer resistance and DNA damage repair.
Conducted at the Liverpool Centre for Genomics Research, the project was done in collaboration with scientists in Alaska, Spain, South Korea, Denmark and Ireland. The genome sample was obtained from a whale that was legally killed by subsistence hunters in Greenland. (The hunters legally killed the whale for meat and gave samples to scientists for research.) It follows a paper published in October by Harvard Medical School researchers that made similar findings in the bowhead's genes.
Joao Pedro de Magalhaes, the lead researcher of the U.K.-based study at Liverpool University, said that learning from these elders of the ocean could help increase knowledge about human lives. For instance, drugs that activate similar genes inside humans, could be used to stave off serious diseases.
Bowhead whales faced steep declines during whaling, but have seen a recovery since the 1986 moratorium on whaling imposed by the International Whaling Commission. The species has about 24,900 individuals roaming Arctic and subarctic waters - nearly half of the 50,000 individuals alive in the days before industrial whaling.
