How many steps does it take to put a whale in a museum?

On December 9, the skeleton of a fin whale was unveiled at the Shanghai Natural History Museum for final assembly. Photo by Tang Yanjun

"For such a big whale, this is not the place where it should end up."

A whale as big as a hill was lying on the beach, its belly bulging. Two staff members walked around the whale, found the right spot, leaned sideways and poked the whale's belly with a scalpel, and a series of puffing sounds came, accompanied by an indescribable stench.

In March 2017, a huge whale carcass was found in the waters of Shanghai. Experts from Shanghai Ocean University identified the whale as a fin whale, the second largest animal in the world, second only to the blue whale. A specimen preparation team from the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum dissected and processed the fin whale carcass on site. Xiaoxin's colleagues went to the scene and witnessed the specimen preparation team deflate the fin whale.

In March 2017, a giant whale carcass was found in Shanghai waters. Photo by Zhang Hengwei

On December 9, 2021, the fin whale "came back". It was made into a skeletal specimen about 24 meters long and weighing about 3 tons. It was unveiled at the Shanghai Natural History Museum (branch of Shanghai Science and Technology Museum). This is currently the largest fin whale skeletal specimen in China.

It took four and a half years from the discovery of the fin whale's carcass to the display of the specimen. What kind of story is hidden behind this?

Either "remain in good stead for eternity" or "remain in bad stead for eternity"

In 2020, the Chinese Academy of Sciences' "Exploration One" research vessel discovered a whale fall about 3 meters long at a depth of 1,600 meters in the South China Sea. This is the first time that Chinese scientists have discovered this type of ecosystem. The term "whale fall" quickly topped the search rankings, allowing more people to recognize this unique ecological phenomenon.

Literally, whale fall describes the process of a dead whale slowly sinking to the bottom of the sea and being decomposed and consumed; in a biological sense, it refers to the benthic ecosystem in the deep sea that relies on the organic matter of whale carcasses for survival. The deep sea lacks sunlight, and the energy provided by whale fall has a unique and significant significance for maintaining the balance of the marine ecosystem.

This is the last tenderness a whale gives to the ocean. The story of "one whale dies and all things come to life" has touched countless netizens.

On December 9, the skeleton of a fin whale was unveiled at the Shanghai Natural History Museum for final assembly. Photo by Tang Yanjun

When a whale dies in the ocean, it causes a whale fall. If a whale dies on the beach, it is often greeted with a horrific "whale explosion."

As the name suggests, a whale explosion is an explosion of a whale, which will spray out a large amount of rotten flesh and blood and toxic gases. The ejecta after the whale explosion will also pollute the surrounding environment and produce a strong stench that can last for several months.

According to Zhang Tangming, a specimen maker at the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum, there are two causes of whale explosions. First, after a whale dies, bacteria inside the body multiply rapidly. Since the whale's fat layer is rich in nutrients, bacteria decompose these nutrients to produce large amounts of ammonia and carbon dioxide.

"On the other hand, whales live in the deep sea where the water pressure is very strong, so their skin is very tough. These gases accumulate in the whale's body, just like a balloon that gets bigger and bigger. When these gases find a vent, it causes a whale explosion."

"When we were handling this fin whale, in order to prevent it from exploding, we had to slowly find some small holes to let the air out first, and then cut it apart. This would be a little better."

Despite this, Zhang Tangming was still reluctant to describe the smell at the time, only saying that he didn't want to eat fish for a month afterwards.

Cleaning, degreasing, racking, assembly,

A difficult four-year journey

After the air was released, the specimen preparation team performed an on-site dissection of the fin whale, and then the skeleton of the fin whale was transported to the specimen building of the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum. Next, it will go through a series of specimen preparation processes such as cleaning, degreasing, mounting, and assembly.

"Cleaning the remaining meat and removing grease are the most important parts of specimen preparation. This step took us three and a half years," said Zhang Tangming.

The specimen preparation team of the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum cleans the skeleton of a fin whale. Photo courtesy of the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum

If the remaining flesh on the skeleton is removed by cutting, it will inevitably cause damage to the specimen bones. Therefore, in order to ensure the integrity of the specimen bones, the specimen production team chose the biodegradation method.

Biodegradation also has disadvantages, Zhang Tangming explained: "Biodegradation depends on the weather. When the temperature is low, the bacteria required for degradation are not active, so we have to wait until the weather warms up before we can proceed."

"In addition to biodegradation, because whales are rich in oil, after the surface oil is removed, oil will continue to seep out of the skeleton. First, it will affect the color of the specimen surface, and second, the oil has a smell, so we have to degrease the skeleton repeatedly."

When the fin whale was found, its left flipper was missing and its left mandible was damaged. Now, both flippers and mandible bones are replaced with models to avoid the danger caused by unbalanced weight on both sides. In order to better show the effect, the production team restored the skeleton of these two parts in the form of a mold and covered the yellowed parts of the skeleton with oil paint.

Workers are assembling a fin whale skeleton specimen. Photo by Tang Yanjun

After three and a half years of cleaning and degreasing the fin whale skeleton, and nearly three months of mounting outside the museum, the fin whale skeleton specimen arrived at the Shanghai Natural History Museum on the evening of December 5 this year for on-site assembly. It is said that the most difficult part of its installation is that all structural connectors must be specially customized to match each bone.

Its final destination should not be here

Zhang Tangming feels a sense of accomplishment and regret for making such a large whale specimen. "Such a large whale should not end up here."

File photo: The 13th gray whale carcass appeared in the San Francisco Bay Area in the United States in 2019.

Fin whales belong to the family of Baleen Whales in the order Cetacea. They are gentle and feed on small crustaceans such as krill, mysid shrimps, copepods, etc. When they swim in the ocean, they open their mouths wide and suck seawater and small fish and shrimps into their mouths, then close their mouths and filter the seawater out from between their baleen plates. Fin whales are oceanic fish, mainly distributed in the Antarctic waters, and are not common in the coastal waters of China.

From the skeleton, it can be seen that the left lower jaw of the fin whale was broken. Zhang Tangming speculated that it was most likely that the whale hit the cruise ship and was injured by the propeller. "It did not die immediately, but because it lost too much blood and could not eat, it gradually weakened and died, and its body drifted to the offshore area."

Although this is only speculation, it is an indisputable fact that human activities such as hunting, garbage pollution, and ocean navigation threaten the survival of marine life such as whales.

Due to the desire for whales, there has been no shortage of records of whale hunting in human history. Even in modern times when many whale species are on the verge of extinction, some countries and organizations still insist on hunting whales. For example, in 2019, Japan withdrew from the International Whaling Commission (IWC) despite international public opinion and resumed commercial whaling.

File photo: Japan restarts commercial whaling and whaling ships capture minke whales and bring them back to the dock.

Harmful chemical pollutants directly pollute the sea, and some non-degradable materials, such as plastic bags, may be swallowed by whales, causing their death. Every year, there is no shortage of whales around the world who die from swallowing plastic pollutants. This is heartbreaking news.

File photo: On November 19, 2018, a whale was stranded on the coast of Indonesia with its stomach full of plastic waste.

Sound pollution can seriously interfere with the senses and communication abilities of whales. Fin whales can emit a 20 Hz rumbling sound, which allows them to communicate with each other over long distances. However, in increasingly busy ocean routes, communication between whales is becoming increasingly difficult, and the risk of collision between whales and ships is greatly increased.

Data map: A Bryde's whale plays in Dapeng Bay in Shenzhen. Photo by Chen Wen

The future of whales depends largely on future human protection measures. "Through the display of this specimen, we also hope that everyone can learn more about deep-sea and marine mammals, as well as other rare marine animals, show more care and love for them, and join the ranks of protecting endangered animals," said Zhang Tangming.

Source: China News Service

Author: Liu Xiao, Li Qiuying, Chen Congyao

Editor: Zhang Kaixin

Editor: Wang Kai