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Imagine putting together a gigantic jigsaw puzzle that’s larger than a tractor trailer!
This challenge faced staff at the Canadian Museum of Nature
as they prepared a blue whale skeleton for display.
But first they had to give the whale bones a good cleaning and makeover.
The Museum acquired the beached whale in 1975.
The bones were then buried for eight years to let microbes remove the remaining flesh
and break down the oils that give the whale its buoyancy.
But the process was incomplete! The bones continued to slowly leak oil,
even after 20 years in storage at the Museum’s collections facility.
The solution? Create an enzyme bath to remove the oil that was trapped deep inside the whale bones.
After two years, the skeleton was ready to be assembled.
The bones were mounted, and pieced together with the help of 3D models.
Thanks to this painstaking effort, visitors to the Museum’s new Water Gallery
can marvel at this Canadian treasure – the largest animal on the planet
and the first blue whale displayed in Canada.