Abstract
RECENT estimates of the age at which whales reach sexual maturity have depended primarily on the interpretations placed on the rate of accretion of recognizable zones in certain structures such as baleen and ear plugs. Several workers1,2 have pointed out that none of the ageing methods for any species has yet been standardized against organs from whales of known age. Only whales marked as calves would be of accurately known age at the time of capture, but no such animals have yet been recovered. However, two marked humpbacks caught in Cook Strait, New Zealand, have each provided material from immature animals of known minimal age.
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References
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DAWBIN, W. Evidence on Growth-rates obtained from Two Marked Humpback Whales. Nature 183, 1749–1750 (1959). https://doi.org/10.1038/1831749b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1831749b0
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