Old Tom (whale)

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A killer whale swims alongside a whaling boat, with a smaller whale in between. Two men are standing, the harpooner in the bow and another manning the aft rudder, while four oarsmen are seated.
Old Tom, accompanied by a calf, swims next to a whaling boat. The boat is pulled by a harpooned whale, not visible here.
Skeleton of Old Tom in the Eden Killer Whale Museum

Old Tom (circa 1895 - September 17, 1930) was an orca who worked with the whalers of Eden on the southeast coast of Australia .

Old Tom was 6.7 meters long and weighed 6 tons. He had a 1.02 m long skull with 13.4 cm long teeth. Old Tom was believed to be the leader of a group of orcas who helped local whalers by rounding up baleen whales in Twofold Bay . In return, the whalers gave the killer whales the tongues and lips of the whales they caught as a reward.

On September 17, 1930, Old Tom was found dead in Twofold Bay. While his age was previously estimated to be over 90 years old, examination of his teeth revealed that he must have died around the age of 35. However, this method of determining the age of older animals is now considered imprecise.

Old Tom's bones were preserved; meanwhile his skeleton is exhibited in the Eden Killer Whale Museum .

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ David Edward Gaskin: Whales, dolphins, and seals, with special reference to the New Zealand region . St. Martin's Press , 1972, ISBN 0-435-62285-4 , p.  120 , OCLC 704625 .
  2. ^ Perrin WF: Growth of Odontocetes and Sirenians: Problems in Age Determination . In: International Conference on Determining Age of Odontocete Cetaceans (and Sirenians). International Whaling Commission , p. 144.
  3. ↑ Mitchell, E. and Baker, AN (1980). Age of reputedly old Killer Whale, Orcinus orca , 'Old Tom' from Eden, Twofold Bay, Australia, in: WF Perrin and AC Myrick Jr (eds.): Age determination of toothed whales and sirenians, pp. 143–154 Rep. Int. Whale. Comm. (Special Issue 3), quoted in Know the Killer Whale , The Dolphin's Encyclopaedia. Retrieved January 27, 2010
  4. ↑ Olesiuk, Peter F .; Ellis, Graeme M. and Ford, John KB (2005). Life History and Population Dynamics of Northern Resident Killer Whales (Orcinus orca) in British Columbia ( April 19, 2011 memento in the Internet Archive )
  5. ↑ Bill Wannan: A Dictionary of Australian Folklore: Lore, Legends, Myths and Traditions . Viking O'Neil, 1987, ISBN 978-0-670-90041-1 , p. 398.