Blue Whale Skeleton

Found in 1975 when it beached near Codroy, Newfoundland, the Canadian Museum of Nature's blue whale underwent quite an aesthetic overhaul to be ready for its May 2010 debut in the museums new Water Gallery. This skeleton of the largest animal on Earth is the first to be displayed in Canada, and one of only a few worldwide.

After the whale's discovery, the animal was flensed on the beach to remove the skin, flesh and blubber. The remains were then shipped to Ottawa, where the skeleton was buried for eight years in sandy clay soil on the citys outskirts. Microbes and enzymes in the soil served to remove the remaining tissue and break down oil that whales naturally produce for buoyancy and insulation. But the process was incomplete - the bones continued to slowly leak oil, even after 20 years in storage. Museum staff then created an enzyme bath solution to remove the oil that was trapped deep inside the whales bones.

Adult female blue whales are even larger than males. Although the museum's female whale had not reached full maturity when she died, she measures approximately 19 metres in length. Her vertebral discs and skull are unfused, indicating that she would have continued to grow. Despite her young age, the whale bones alone weigh a whopping 2,300 kg! The blue whale population flourished in every ocean until it was hunted almost to extinction. In 1966, the species became protected by the International Whaling Commission and wild populations have since rebounded.

See this treasure on the official Canada's Got Treasures website!
http://www.museevirtuel-virtualmuseum.ca/sgc-cms/expositions-exhibitions/tres...

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Pets & Animals

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• Pnina Gagnon
• Whale art
• Papier-maché art
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[greeptown]

I saw one of these before at a museum before!!

[ncPsychosis]

awesome (:

love blue whales!