bowhead

Everyday

A large dark Arctic whale with a huge curved mouth and a very thick layer of blubber; it has no teeth and filters food with baleen. tree →

In the lessons

In science lessons the bowhead whale is famous as perhaps the longest-living mammal: some have lived over 200 years. It lives in icy Arctic seas and can break ice with its head. Inuit communities hunt a small number of them in a controlled way. Phrases: «bowhead whale».

Examples

• The bowhead whale can live for more than 200 years. tree →
• A bowhead breaks through thin ice to breathe. tree →
• Bowheads have baleen instead of teeth. tree →
• Its blubber is thicker than your arm is long. tree →
• Bowhead whales live in the cold Arctic Ocean. tree →
• The bowhead got its name from its curved, bow-shaped head. tree →

Note

Countable. Usually «bowhead whale». «Bow» here rhymes with «go» (like a bow for arrows), not with «cow».