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On December 9, the skeleton of a fin whale in the second basement atrium of the Shanghai Museum of Natural History lay quietly on a high support. After four long years and a total length of 24 meters, it will be finally assembled on site this afternoon, becoming the longest fin whale specimen in China for a long time.
When the sun shines through the glass on this long whale bone, interweaving light and shadow, does anyone remember the fin whale that ran aground on the beach in March 2017 and died?
On March 20, 2017, a dead whale was found in the sea where the Yangtze River estuary meets Hangzhou Bay. It has been identified by experts from Shanghai Ocean University as a fin whale that is not common in the coastal waters of China. On March 23, 12 experts from the specimen production team of the Shanghai Museum of Natural History dissected the dead whales on the banks of the Dazhi River in Shanghai.
Zhang Tangming, a herbarist at the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum who risked the life of a whale explosion at the dissection site that year, witnessed the whole process of specimen production.
"The whale is 24 meters long and weighs about 30 tons, making it quite difficult to dissect. In order to prevent the phenomenon of 'whale explosion' that has killed people, when starting to move the knife, it is necessary to open several small openings in the surface of the body and release the gas. Because the whale's skin, epidermal muscle, and fat layers had to be broken down layer by layer, our 12 herbarists took turns with nearly 20 knives. ”
Zhang Tangming recalled that because there was no power supply at the scene, the staff could only work with a scalpel. Sharpen the knife every few cuts. In addition, endure the pungent putrid smell... The entire anatomical work took more than three weeks.
To deal with this dead whale, there are generally two ways of drug treatment and biological treatment: drug treatment is to use chemicals for preservative treatment; biological treatment is to dissect the whale and use natural oxidation to discharge the whale's oil.
"We were biologically processed, from dissection to specimen making, so it took a long time. In four years, through several rounds of cleaning and degreasing, one cycle is from late spring to early autumn, for a total of three cycles. Whales have a much larger amount of oil than terrestrial mammals, and their bones are more fragile, so it is very difficult to handle. If it is not cleaned up, it is not conducive to long display. ”
According to reports, this fin whale has a total of more than 200 bones. The weight of the whole skeleton is about 3 tons. 15 pairs of ribs, each with 10-12 pounds. In particular, its head is particularly large and particularly heavy, about 1.5 tons or so. To this end, the insulation board also specially built a sealing device for this big head to clean and degreas.
After the bone treatment is complete, a custom scaffold is also required. Every component of the bracket needs to be tailored. It is also a particularly lengthy process.
Restoration work on the site of the longest fin whale specimen in China began on 5 December. Install the bracket, hang the head first, and then from the lumbar spine, the tail vertebrae, to the ribs... Start gradually putting the bones back in place. Installation restores are accompanied by some tinkering and coloring.
Fin whales were found with missing left pectoral fins and broken upper jaws. So when making the specimen, in order to maintain balance, both the bilateral jaw and the bilateral pectoral fin were modeled.
After the construction is completed today, it will be on permanent display, and the audience can see it up close.
It is reported that this is not the first time that Shanghai has made specimens of stranded whales. In 2009, a 10-meter-long, 10-ton Brinell whale ran aground in Chongming, Shanghai, and was also made into a specimen, which is now on display at the Shanghai Museum of Natural History.
📑 Morning of March 20, 2017
The fishery administration department received reports that fishermen found a dead whale in the waters outside the mouth of the Dazhi River, located at 122 degrees 06 minutes east longitude and 30 degrees 58 minutes north latitude, and the fishermen at the scene were instructed to drag the dead whale back to the port.
📑 Afternoon of March 20
The dead whales were dragged to the Dazhi River Sluice. Upon on-site inspection by fishery officials, the whale's body was highly decayed, one fin was missing, and the body was about 24 meters long.
📑 On the morning of March 21
The fishery administration department invited experts from Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai Science and Technology Museum and other units to the scene, and the experts made an autopsy, preliminarily analyzed the causes, and studied and discussed the treatment plan.
The initial disposal protocol is to dissect the whale in situ, take its bones, and subsequently process them to make a bone specimen.
The muscles and other parts of the fish body will be decomposed and bagged, and transported to the Fengxian Harmless Treatment Plant for incineration.
📑 Noon on March 22
The specimen production experts of the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum arrived at the scene, and due to the poor weather in Shanghai on the same day, the experts did not conduct dissection for the time being, and first carried out site surveys and other matters.
📑 March 23
Twelve experts from the specimen production team of the Shanghai Museum of Natural History dissected the dead whales on the banks of the Dazhi River in Shanghai.
Source: Thoughtful Shanghai