Risiпg from the Abyss: Spectacυlar Blυe Whale Skeletoп Emerges After 3 Years iп the Deep.

Frank Hadfield and his team from Dinosaur Valley Studios in East Coulee, Alta., are just back from a trip to Newport, Oregon, where they collected bones of a blue whale.

The idea is to mount the skeleton on a metal frame to make it look like it’s swimming in the ocean. It’s the biggest project the team has ever tackled.

 

 

“We’re going to have it in a pose that’s very dynamic,” said Hadfield, who is the president of the company. “So it shows how these giant animals were still quite active in their environment in the ocean so that’s our challenge, and it is going to be exhibited outside so that’s another challenge as well with the Oregon weather.”

The project is for the Oregon State University’s (OSU) Hatfield Marine Science Center.015 at Gold Beach, Oregon. The remains were dismembered, with the pieces put in nets and sunk to the bottom of the ocean for three years to have the flesh cleaned off the bones.

When Hadfield’s team arrived, they organized the bones to make sure they were all there.

They soon discovered a problem with the animal’s skull. Researchers believe the blue whale may have been struck by a ship.

“When they found the animal and did the necropsy on it, they discovered that there was an extensive damage to the cranium, the top of the skull,” said Hadfield.

“We decided that it would be far too expensive and labor intensive to try and rehabilitate the real skull.”

Now, Eddie Dahm is making an entire replica of the skull out of foam and plastic. He’s the team’s paleo artist and is working with a 3D model of a blue whale to cut pieces using a CDC machine.

“To make sure it was the scale, I actually measured the occipital condyle, which is kind of the bone at the base of your skull,” he said. “I compared that to the one there because it was still in good condition so using that measurement, I was able to ensure that the model I’m making was at the correct scale.”

While it’s not ideal scientifically, the recreated skull will reduce the weight of the finished skeletal display.

“The lower jaws alone, each jaw weighs 700 pounds (317 kilograms) and the top skull, the cranial vault, we estimated the weight would have been over two tonnes (2,000 kilograms),” said Hadfield. “That’s a huge engineering challenge to have something as delicate as those bones but with that mᴀssive weight so yeah, I think it’s better that we went with this replica.”

Before the mounting process begins the team has to further clean the bones and repair some that were broken.

“We’re going to decrease them, we’re going to soak them in a hydrogen peroxide solution to disinfect them and whiten up take some of the mold that is developed off of them,” he said. “After that’s done, we’re going to be sealing them and conserving them in a UV and weather resistant solution and then the fabrication of the mount starts.”

Hadfield says the team should be finished the project by fall or early winter 2023 and then ship them back to Oregon where they’ll be on display outside the new Gladys Valley Marine Studies Building on the OSU campus.

Related Posts

The Roman Theatre of Aspendos: A Masterpiece of Ancient Engineering and Cultural Legacy

The Roman Theatre of Aspendos in Antalya, Turkey, is a stunning 2nd-century AD architectural achievement that exemplifies the precision and artistry of Roman engineering. Built during the reign of Emperor Marcus…

Ramses II: The Legendary Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt.

Ramses II (1303 BCE–1213 BCE), often regarded as one of the most influential and powerful rulers in history, reigned during the pinnacle of Ancient Egypt’s New Kingdom….

The Silver Coffin of King Psusennes I: A Unique Royal Burial

The Silver Coffin of King Psusennes I, dating to the 21st Dynasty (c. 1047–1001 B.C.), stands as one of ancient Egypt’s most remarkable funerary artifacts. Discovered in…

The Girl in the Coffin: A Forgotten Child Who Slept for 140 Years

In 2016, workers renovating a simple San Francisco home stumbled upon something extraordinary. Beneath the soil, resting silently for more than a century, lay a small coffin…

Unearthing the Past: The Remarkable Discovery of a Woolly Mammoth

In the frozen soils of Siberia and other parts of the northern hemisphere, time has preserved an incredible legacy from the Ice Age. The woolly mammoth (Mammuthus…

A Hidden Marvel in the Egyptian Desert: The 60-Ton Granite Sarcophagus

The vast, enigmatic Egyptian desert has once again revealed a stunning relic from antiquity — a colossal 60-ton granite sarcophagus that has remained untouched for millennia. This…