news update: really REALLY old whale!

Today it was revealed that a whale, caught off the Alaskan coast about a month ago by Aleutian hunters, held a surprising - maybe even shocking - clue to his age. Embedded in his blubber was the fragment of a weapon used over one hundred years ago! The weapon, called a bomb lance, is what I would call an early spear gun. This particular bomb lance was patented in 1879, and phased out in 1885, meaning that this whale was shot in a whale hunt before 1890 (at the latest)! Isn't it amazing what history will reveal to us? I'm just awed by the majestic world around me, more and more so everyday.