Cold war bombs help scientists discover whale sharks can live up to a century!

A whale shark can live up to 100 years, or even more, scientists have realised!

Researchers employed a technique unheard until now: using a Cold War bomb isotope.

By analysing and measuring the amount of Carbon-14, an isotope used in Cold War bombs, the scientists were able to ascertain the age.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

So it goes something like this: The isotope was placed in a shark’s "hard parts" naturally due to its release in the atmosphere during the Cold War. Based on this, the age was decrypted.

The older the whale shark, the lesser Carbon-14 scientists were likely to find.

After collating the study, scientists realised that whale sharks can live for over a century.

During the arms race between 1955-1963, the use of atomic bombs doubled, and this Carbon-14 was then released into the atmosphere - twice the regular amount. This isotope was absorbed by every living being on the planet.

It is used by archaeologists and historians to date ancient bones and artefacts.

The new study, published in Frontiers in Marine Science, was headed by Dr Mark Meekan from the Australian Institute of Marine Science in Perth.

In conversation with BBC, he said "So any animal that was alive then incorporated that spike in Carbon-14 into their hard parts. That means we’ve got a time marker within the vertebrae that means we can work out the periodicity at which those isotopes decay".

However, this wasn’t easy, as whale sharks are endangered creatures, making it harder for scientists to even trace them.

Two dead specimens were held in Taiwan and Pakistan, where the tests were then conducted.

Even though it might be a stretch, Dr Meekan also believes that the sharks could go on living for as many as 150 years!

“The absolute longevity of these animals could be very, very old, possibly as much as 100-150 years old”, he told BBC.

“This has huge implications for the species. It suggests that these things are probably intensely vulnerable to over-harvesting”, he added.

As the largest fish in the world, whale sharks can weigh 20.6 tonnes (20,000kgs) and can grow up to 32 feet!