Categories
Animal Age

How old does a Harbour porpoise get? (age expectancy)

What is the maximal age a Harbour porpoise reaches?

An adult Harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) usually gets as old as 15 years.

Harbour porpoises are around 333 days in the womb of their mother. When born, they weight 8.89 kg (19.6 lbs) and measure 80.8 cm (2′ 8″). They are a member of the Phocoenidae family (genus: Phocoena). Fully grown, they reach a bodylength of 1.53 meter (5′ 1″).

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.

A Harbour porpoise gets as old as 15 years

The harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) is one of six species of porpoise. It is one of the smallest marine mammals. As its name implies, it stays close to coastal areas or river estuaries, and as such, is the most familiar porpoise to whale watchers. This porpoise often ventures up rivers, and has been seen hundreds of miles from the sea. The harbour porpoise may be polytypic, with geographically distinct populations representing distinct races: P. p. phocoena in the North Atlantic and West Africa, P. p. relicta in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov, an unnamed population in the northwestern Pacific and P. p. vomerina in the northeastern Pacific.

Animals of the same family as a Harbour porpoise

Not really brothers and sisters, but from the same biological family (Phocoenidae):

Animals that reach the same age as Harbour porpoise

With an average age of 15 years, Harbour porpoise are in good companionship of the following animals:

Weighting as much as Harbour porpoise

A fully grown Harbour porpoise reaches around 52.72 kg (116.23 lbs). So do these animals:

Animals as big as a Harbour porpoise

Those animals grow as big as a Harbour porpoise: