Recently the Smithsonian Magazine highlighted an interesting tidbit from this Alaska Dispatch article about the recovering bowhead whale population. Since bowheads live for over 200 years, that means the older whales amongst the current population were born before Moby Dick was written!
Not only that, but these bowhead whales also avoided being killed by a massively active whaling industry that reduced their numbers to a mere 1000. Spit your last breath at that, Ahab!
[News viaThe Smithsonian, Art via Arctic Whales]