Common minke whale to 20 growth layers in their tympanic bullae, which may correspond to about 15 to 20 years of age. Both sexes can live to about 50 years of age – the oldest in a study of Icelandic minke whales were 42 years for females and 47 years for males, respectively. Common minke whales have been described as ichthyophagous, but their diet also includes pelagic crustaceans and cephalopods and varies by region, season, and year. In the North Atlantic, they primarily eat small schooling fish, demersal fish, and krill. A 2007 study showed that off Spitsbergen they fed almost exclusively on
Minke Smeets Minke Smeets Minke Smeets ("née" Smabers; born March 22, 1979 in The Hague, South Holland) is a field hockey midfielder from the Netherlands. Her current team is Laren. She was part of the team that won the 2007 Champions Trophy. During the Champions Trophy she became the all-time record holder in caps for the national team, wearing the orange jersey for the 235th time in her career in the final, breaking Mijntje Donners' record. She won an Olympic gold medal with the Dutch team by beating China in the final of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. During the closing