The Skeleton |
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The
Animal |
This is the skeleton of a female sperm whale. She was 9.5 meters
or about 30 feet long and would have Weighed around 5 metric tons.
To learn more about sperm whales check out the signs on and around
the skeleton.
Badly injured in a ship strike, this whale drowned and washed
ashore in Thibaud Bay on the north eastern coast of Dominica in
January 2001.
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Getting The Bones |
Due to the pungent smell of decay and the demands of the local
population, the environmental health officers decided to bury the
dead whale above the high water mark on the beach. Andrew Armour,
operator of Anchorage Whale watch, as well as, Andrea and Wilfried
Steffen, two sperm whale enthusiasts from Germany, allowed the
worms and insects to eat away at the flesh and decompose the
tissue for two full years before returning to the burial site.
The excavation began in February 2003. Since the beach sand was
very wet, many of the bones were not 'kept in excellent condition
and some were broken. Nonetheless most were successfully
recuperated and the process of building the skeleton began.
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Building The Skeleton |
After excavation, the bones were
cleaned, first by a pressure cleaner, then more delicately by
hand. After which, the bones were placed into a large vat of hot
water mixed with lots of detergent to bleach the bones. Finally,
the bones were dried in the sun.
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Putting It All Together |
The skeleton was mounted by Guenther Behrmann, a well known sperm
whale expert from Germany, with the help of Andrea and Wilfried
Steffen, as well as, the Anchorage staff. It took the entire month
of March in 2004 to plan out and assemble all of the bones into
the skeleton you see before you now. First, all of the bones were
laid out in place and measured to build the housing around it. The
bones were then brought to the Anchorage and parts of the body
were assembled separately such as the arms, the skull, and the
spinal cord. Finally, all of the pieces were mounted and hung as a
finished skeleton. |
Copyright © 2009 The Anchorage Hotel. P.O. Box 34, Castle Comfort, Roseau, Dominica | Phone: +1-767-448-2638/9 | Fax: +1-767-440-2639. All rights reserved.
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