Original CNN Article
A 50-ton bowhead whale caught off the Alaskan coast last month had a weapon fragment embedded in its neck that showed it survived a similar hunt -- more than 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.
Interesting Comments on Slashdot:
The speartip recovered from the 1890s was an explosive harpoon too. ;) There's pretty much no 'humane' way of killing a whale - they're too big to kill quick unless you blow them up with a depth charge. The basic method of modern whale hunting hasn't changed in over 100 years. You harpoon 'em with something big and explosive, then let them drag themselves to exhaustion and death. It usually takes a few hours. That's one of the reasons why whale hunting is in a special category all by itself.
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-EvilMagnus
The reason to stop hunting whales isn't that there are few of them, but rather that they probably have legitimate claim at the second most intelligent life from on earth, and more importantly, probably above the threshold of intelligence where we shouldn't hunt them at all. Whales, dolphins, elephants, and primates -- they are all probably above that threshold. As humans, we respect our own first, then other highly intelligent animals (which all happen to be mammals), then other mammals, then other animals, then other forms of life. People differ on where along that spectrum we should stop the killing. Vegans put the line right under all animals, I put it right under intelligent life.
If you really care about whales, then rally against their biggest problem, which is (and for 150 years has been) boat engine noise, which fucks up their ability to talk to one another.
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Myopic
