Another museum I've seen that has a considerable, and varied, exhibit of
suspended cetacea is the South Australia Museum in Adelaide -- they're
right on the coast and I think they have had quite a few beached animals
over the years. Their curator probably knows a lot about how they're
degreased -- Dr. Deb
> The Oxford Museum of Natural History also has a suspended baleen whale in
> its central exhibition space, and the mammal hall at the Natural History
> Museum, London has several whales hung in the air, including a blue whale
> (which had to be un-suspended, dusted off and vacuumed, and re-hung about
> four years ago). The history of these is probably documented, so the
> Victorian treatment for bone de-greasing may be written down somewhere. I
> would guess that de-fleshing and then de-greasing by adventitious bacteria
> during either burial or exposure (rotting, in simple terms). Their
> suspended sperm whale was found in Thurso, Scotland in 1863, and donated
> in
> 1865, giving two years to rot down to bone. Perhaps the de-fleshed bones
> got a regular scrubbing with some fierce and simple chemical solution
> (lye,
> or caustic soda) and rinsing with lots of water.
>
> Any other musuems with suspended whales?
>
> Greg Campbell
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <[log in to unmask]>
> To: "Greg Campbell" <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Tuesday, July 07, 2009 11:14 AM
> Subject: Re: [ZOOARCH] Biggest degreasing
>
>
>> Interesting. The Zoology Museum in Cambridge has a blue whale skeleton,
>> nicely degreased. When I was a child, the skeleton was suspended
>> dramatically overhead inside the museum. With the rebuilding of the
>> museum
>> and some decades on, it is in the open air, but under cover. How did the
>> Victorians degrease this without enzymes, I wonder?
>>
>> Tony Legge
>>
>
>
>
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