An Early Holocene Bowhead Whale (Balaena Mysticetus) in Nansen Sound, Canadian Arctic Archipelago

• Published in: ARCTIC
• Main Author: Bednarski, Jan
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: The Arctic Institute of North America 1990
• Subjects: bowhead whale; early Holocene; Nansen Sound; Canadian High Arctic; Baleine boréale; Holocène inférieur; Arctique canadien septentrional; Arctic; Baleine; Canadian Arctic Archipelago; Heiberg; Arctic Archipelago; Arctique*; Balaena mysticetus; baleine boréale
• Online Access: https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/64644

At about 10,000 B.P. northern Axel Heiberg and Ellesmere islands underwent a climatic amelioration that caused the demise of the last glaciation. Generally, by 8,000 B.P. accelerated retreat left extensive coastal areas ice free. The occurrence of an early Holocene (7475±220 B.P.) bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus L.) skeleton several hundred kilometres north of its present range concurs with other biological and glaciological evidence to indicate that the early Holocene climate in the High Arctic was less severe than at present.