They Found a Piece of the 1800s Inside This Whale
see the light of day: to be discovered, made public, or finally come into view after being hidden or unused.
In 2007, Inuit hunters in Alaska caught a bowhead whale. As they cut it up, they found the tip of an old weapon deep inside its body. It was a harpoon from the 1880s. Long ago, hunters had tried to kill this same animal, but the weapon failed. The whale escaped and swam away. That harpoon had not seen the light of day for more than a hundred years. For over a century, the whale carried the broken metal inside its body. It escaped the hunters of the 19th century, only to be caught by the hunters of the 21st.
How does an animal live that long? Bowhead whales have the thickest fat of any whale, which keeps them warm in icy water. Their bodies are also very good at repairing damage, which may be one reason they are the longest-living mammals on Earth. Some reach more than 200 years of age. A whale alive today could have been born around the time of Napoleon.
These giants of the ocean now face a danger greater than harpoons. For thousands of years, the thick Arctic ice was their home and their shelter. Now that ice is melting, and the frozen world these whales depend on is slowly disappearing. After surviving so much, they now face a danger they cannot swim away from.
Sample sentences
After ten years in a drawer, her first novel finally saw the light of day.
The company spent millions on the project, but it never saw the light of day.
The new law had been blocked for years before it finally saw the light of day.
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In 2007, The World’s Longest-Living Mammal Was Found With A 100-Year-Old Harpoon Still Inside It
