What is the maximal age a Bryde’s whale reaches?
An adult Bryde’s whale (Balaenoptera edeni) usually gets as old as 72 years.
Bryde’s whales are around 383 days in the womb of their mother. When born, they weight 650 kg (1433 lbs) and measure 3.89 meter (12′ 10″). They are a member of the Balaenopteridae family (genus: Balaenoptera). Fully grown, they reach a bodylength of 13.85 meter (45′ 6″).
As a reference: Usually, humans get as old as 100 years, with the average being around 75 years. After being carried in the belly of their mother for 280 days (40 weeks), they grow to an average size of 1.65m (5′ 5″) and weight in at 62 kg (137 lbs), which is obviously highly individual.
Bryde’s whale ( BRUU-dəz), or the Bryde’s whale complex, putatively comprises two species of rorqual and maybe three. The “complex” means the number and classification remains unclear because of a lack of definitive information and research. The common Bryde’s whale (Balaenoptera brydei, Olsen, 1913) is a larger form that occurs worldwide in warm temperate and tropical waters, and the Sittang or Eden’s whale (B. edeni, Anderson, 1879) is a smaller form that may be restricted to the Indo-Pacific. And also, a smaller, coastal form of B. brydei is found off southern Africa, and perhaps another form in the Indo-Pacific differs in skull morphology, tentatively referred to as the Indo-Pacific Bryde’s whale. The recently described Omura’s whale (B. omurai, Wada et al. 2003), was formerly thought to be a pygmy form of Bryde’s, but is now recognized as a distinct species.B. brydei gets its specific and common name from Johan Bryde, Norwegian consul to South Africa, who helped establish the first modern whaling station in the country, while B. edeni gets its specific and common names from Sir Ashley Eden, former High Commissioner of Burma (Myanmar). Sittang whale refers to the type locality of the species. In Thailand, locals distinguished Sittang whales that were different from B.edeni, and it is unclear whether Sittang whales were applied for later-classified Omura’s whales by locals.
Animals of the same family as a Bryde’s whale
Not really brothers and sisters, but from the same biological family (Balaenopteridae):
- Fin whale becoming 116 years old
- Common minke whale becoming 50 years old
- Sei whale becoming 74 years old
- Blue whale becoming 110 years old
- Humpback whale becoming 95 years old
Animals that reach the same age as Bryde’s whale
With an average age of 72 years, Bryde’s whale are in good companionship of the following animals:
- Asian elephant usually reaching 80 years
- Horse usually reaching 62 years
- Sperm whale usually reaching 77 years
- Chimpanzee usually reaching 60 years
- African bush elephant usually reaching 80 years
- Berardius usually reaching 71 years
- Sei whale usually reaching 74 years
- Bornean orangutan usually reaching 60 years
- Short-finned pilot whale usually reaching 63 years
- Dugong usually reaching 70 years
Weighting as much as Bryde’s whale
A fully grown Bryde’s whale reaches around 20000 kg (44092.4 lbs). So do these animals:
- North Atlantic right whale weighting 23000 kilos (50706.26 lbs) on average
- Southern right whale weighting 23000 kilos (50706.26 lbs) on average
- Sei whale weighting 22103.13 kilos (48729 lbs) on average
Animals as big as a Bryde’s whale
Those animals grow as big as a Bryde’s whale:
- Gray whale with 11.84 meter (38′ 11″)
- Sperm whale with 12.18 meter (40′ 0″)
- North Atlantic right whale with 13.92 meter (45′ 9″)
- Southern right whale with 14.15 meter (46′ 6″)
- Humpback whale with 12.87 meter (42′ 3″)
- Bowhead whale with 12.2 meter (40′ 1″)