Living to 200 - Take a Tip from the Bowhead Whales

M.A. Dworkin

The Arctic - Actually, it’s easy-peasy to live to the ripe old age of 200 years, that is if you take a tip or two from the Bowhead Whales who live to two hundred-plus all the time in the Arctic. 

First off, you’ll probably have to buy yourself one of those triple-thermal suits and  layer-up when you move to the arctic, where it gets down to ninety below. But most of all you have to become a master of your DNA repair like the Bowhead Whale. Yet, given all that, really, thirty years or so into the future, there may be nothing to it. The Big 2-0-0, here you come!

With a lifespan of more than 200 years, Bowhead Whales are the Methuselahs of the animal kingdom. No other mammal lives longer. A new study recently published in the prestigious journal Nature provides the crucial answer to a question that has puzzled researchers for decades: How have these giants of the waters managed to stay healthy for more than two centuries? 

The answer is that Bowhead Whales are true masters of DNA repair, and they live in a very frosty environment.

The Bowheads live exclusively in the cold, cold waters of the Arctic. These animals are not only enormous in size and weight, but also reach an advanced age, both factors that should actually increase the risk of cancer. Yet Bowheads rarely develop the disease.

A research team led by Jan Vijg from the Einstein College of Medicine in New York and Vera Gorbunova from the University of Rochester found that the key to the Bowhead Whale’s long life lay in their ability to repair damaged DNA with exceptional efficiency. The scientists discovered that Bowheads possess particularly high concentrations of a protein called CIRBP. This protein acts like a repair booster for cells. It supports the correction of DNA damage and thus protects against mutations that can lead to diseases such as cancer.

In addition, a second factor fits perfectly with the lifestyle of these enormous animals,  that can grow to a length of 60 feet and weigh in at 100 tons, the icy, cold temperatures they live in, increases the activity of CIRBP, so their habitat directly supports the mechanism that allows them to live such long lives. 

And get this, they have no need to buy heavy winter coats or thermal ware, they have a layer of blubber (fat!) that runs up to 2 ½ feet thick.

Here’s the relevant fact: The results of this research go far beyond the biology of a single species. It raises the exciting question: Could the Bowhead Whale’s mechanism one day benefit humans as well?

Early experiments have provided intriguing results. When the CIRBP gene is inserted into human cells, their DNA repair rate has doubled. Experiments with fruit flies even showed that additional CIRBP extended their lifespan. 

The next experimental steps followed quickly as scientists equipped mice with the CIRBP gene - once with the human version, once with that of the Bowhead Whale. The first results have been cautiously optimistic.

“They didn’t drop dead,” said Vera Gorbunova, summing up the findings. “So at least we know it’s not immediately harmful. But the research does show that a longer life than the average human lifespan is possible.”

Although there is still a long way to go, the study opens the door to new approaches in aging research. The findings provide a fascinating insight into the biology of one of the most extraordinary creatures on our planet and possibly into the future of human longevity.

So, before you go thinking about having yourself frozen in liquid nitrogen, at cryogenic temperatures, for the rest of eternity, in the hopes that future science can restore you to a healthy living condition, think about taking a trip up to the arctic and watch the 200-year old Bowheads strut their stuff and do their thing.