Breed, Greg A.Vermeulen, ElsCorkeron, Peter2025-07-022025-07-022024-12-20Breed, I., Vermeulen, E., Corkeron, P. 2024, 'Extreme longevity may be the rule not the exception in Balaenid whales', Science Advances, 10, no. 51, art. eadq3086, pp. 1-8, doi : 10.1126/sciadv.adq3086.2375-254810.1126/sciadv.adq3086http://hdl.handle.net/2263/103102DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT : All data needed to evaluate the conclusions in the paper are present in the paper and/or the Supplementary Materials.We fit ongoing 40+-year mark-recapture databases from the thriving southern right whale (SRW), Eubalaena australis, and highly endangered North Atlantic right whale (NARW), Eubalaena glacialis, to candidate survival models to estimate their life spans. Median life span for SRW was 73.4 years, with 10% of individuals surviving past 131.8 years. NARW life spans were likely anthropogenically shortened, with a median life span of just 22.3 years, and 10% of individuals living past 47.2 years. In the context of extreme longevity recently documented in other whale species, we suggest that all balaenid and perhaps most great whales have an unrecognized potential for great longevity that has been masked by the demographic disruptions of industrial whaling. This unrecognized longevity has profound implication for basic biology and conservation of whales.en© 2024 The Authors. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC).WhalesEubalaena australisNorth Atlantic right whale (NARW)Life spansNorth Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis)Southern right whale (SRWSouthern right whale (Eubalaena australis)Article