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Weapon Found in Whale Dated From the 1800s
LABarr writes "AP and CNN are carrying a story that has forced scientists to re-evaluate the longevity of mammals. A bowhead whale caught off the Alaskan coast last month had a weapon fragment embedded in its neck that showed it survived a similar hunt over a century ago. 'Embedded deep under its blubber was a 3½-inch arrow-shaped projectile that has given researchers insight into the whale's age, estimated between 115 and 130 years old. The bomb lance fragment, lodged in a bone between the whale's neck and shoulder blade, was likely manufactured in New Bedford, on the southeast coast of Massachusetts, a major whaling center at that time. It was probably shot at the whale from a heavy shoulder gun around 1890.' "
Congrats, guys. You just killed the oldest living mammal! ... Let's you and I have a little talk about that whale. No, wait. Let me get God on speakerphone."
Someday that fisherman will be at the gates of Heaven and Saint Peter will say, "We've been waiting for you
Why is it wrong to kill a whale and not a cow or pig or chicken?
I eat all three, so why should I care for Willy the Whale?
Mac OS X and Windows XP working side by side to fight back the night.
If this is modded 3, informative... I'm afraid... Do people really believe this to be true?!
Standing at the bow of a small open boat with an outboard motor with a non-exploding harpoon and a gun in your hand is probably one of the scariest experiences I can imagine. I've heard some really frightening tales from Eskimo whaling captains.
/ Research/Multidisciplinary/Whaling_societies.htme vukpaper.html
What is it with you and your "factory killing ships"? Are you some kind of nut? Or do you have Eskimo people confused with the Japanese "scientific" whaling expeditions?
Do some fucking research before you spout off with your nonsense. A Google search for "eskimo whaling techniques" brings up lots of good explanations on how whaling is done in modern Eskimo communities. From http://luna.pos.to/whale/iwc_chair06_6.html see "Regarding the Alaska Eskimo bowhead whale subsistence hunt, it was reported that subsistence hunters make every effort to dispatch the whale as quickly as possible to provide a humane death for the whale, to reduce the chance of losing the whale, and to reduce the amount of time hunters in small boats must spend in the frigid waters of the Arctic Ocean. It was further reported that the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission has undertaken an extensive program to upgrade the safety and humaneness of its traditional weapons used in the hunt."
Other sources of information to help with your prejudiced ignorance:
http://www.uark.edu/misc/jcdixon/Historic_Whaling
http://depts.washington.edu/rural/RURAL/advice/dt
http://www.iwcoffice.org/index.htm
I find it interesting that you would assume that I am white.
I will be happy to keep my opinion out of Alaska the very moment that Alaska stops accepting money that comes from my federal taxes.
You're right, I never spent any real amount of time in any of the villages. Perhaps I missed out on a vital insight I would have gained if had. Naknek and Kotzebue were like all the small towns I have ever spent any time in: kind of poor, but mostly like any other town in the northwest/bc, trying to live off of tourism while everything else dries up and blows away.
I guess my question is, where is the line drawn? How endangered does the species have to be before these 10 villages decide they can live off of something else? What happens when they are gone?
You catch enchiladas by picking them up behind the head and holding them underwater until they don't kick anymore -VeGas