Biomedical Ephemera, or: A Frog for Your Boils

The Greenland Whale (Bowhead) - Balaena mysticetus

It turns out bowheads aren’t especially fond of being hunted. Who’d have guessed? 

Bowhead whales are members of the Balaenidae family, and until the early 2000s, were believed to be a right whale (specifically, the Greenland right whale). Morphological and genetic analysis proved that they belong to their own genus. However, they’re still very similar to the right whales. They’re robust, don’t have “chin grooves”, and tend towards colder waters.

The head of the Bowhead is 40% of its body length. Yikes.

The Naturalist’s Library, Vol VII: Mammalia. Sir William Jardine, 1843.

Greenland Whale [Bowhead Whale - Balaena mysticetus] Breaching

The slow speed, shallow dives, and multi-unit groups that characterize bowhead whales made them a prime choice for whalers. Turns out, they aren't huge fans of being harpooned. Whaling was one of the deadliest professions straight through to the early 20th century, because of events like this. Even if the whale was eventually subdued and slaughtered, it was often at the cost of multiple lives due to hypothermia, drowning, or blunt trauma.

Harpoon points found in whales that had been freshly killed or beached in the past three decades have shown that bowheads are probably the longest-lived mammals. In 2007, an ivory spear, produced just as the US was headed into its Civil War, was discovered deep in the blubber of a bowhead hunted by the Inupiat of Canada. The fact that she survived suggested that she was, at the least, a young adult at the time, and amino acid racimization of her corneal tissue showed that she was between 150 and 155 years of age, and she is likely 50 years younger than the oldest bowheads ever discovered.

The Naturalists Library, Vol VII: Mammalia. Sir William Jardine, 1843.

Death's-Head Hawkmoth - Acherontia atropos There are three species of Death's-Head Hawkmoth, all of which raid the hives of honeybees for their honey. They mimic the scent of their target bee, and this prompts the members of the hive to not attack the intruder. A. atropos targets the Western Honey-Bee, and is the only species of Death's-Head Hawkmoth in Europe. Aside from their ominous markings, these moths can "scream" when threatened. The "scream" is really a loud squeak, emitted by pushing air through the pharynx. Accompanied by flashing their contrasting colors, the unique screech is enough to scare off most predators. The Naturalist's Library Vol. VI: Entomology - Bees and Related Species. James Duncan, compiled by Sir William Jardine, 1840.