The 50-ton bowhead whale was caught off Alaska, under a hunting quota for the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission, monitored by the International Whaling Commission.
Sad though conservationists will have been at the whale's demise, its capture revealed a fascinating find. Embedded in its neck was a 13cm harpoon head which has been identified as a design that would have used within a few years either side of 1890.
The harpoon would have been of a 'bomb-lance' type, where a delayed fuse was used to set off an explosive charge once the harpoon had pierced the animal's flesh. But this whale survived the ordeal - until its luck finally ran out more than a century later.
If the whale was shot as a juvenile of, say, 15, its age today would be around 130. It could have been even older, if originally shot as a more mature adult.
While it is rare to find whales that have lived to more than 100, some experts believe they can live to nearer 200 years old. Calculation of whale age is generally made through chemical analysis of eye lenses, which become cloudier with age.
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