Educating Students on the Blue Whale “Blues”

The Blue Whale project is near completion and will be the twenty first completed Blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) skeleton in the world. The completed skeleton will be hanging the University of British Columbia (UBC) Beaty Biodiversity Museum, which will be opening early this year. The biodiversity museum will be displaying the “richness” of British Columbia’s natural environment, with the 26 meter Blue whale being one of the “big” exhibits.

The 26 meter female Blue whale was found beached in Prince Edward Island in 1987. She was buried and basically forgotten until twenty years later. In 2007, the Blue whale project was initiated with the removal, transportation, cleaning and articulation of the whale. The articulation is occurring in a building donated by Ellice Recycling, which has had multiple open houses and school tours. The early spring announces the completion of the Blue whale, which will be transported over to its permit housing in the museum. Therefore, the Blue whale project has a few more open houses scheduled for the evenings and weekends, and the remaining school tours are occurring every Thursday until March.

On January 14, I was able to assist fellow whale nerd Natalie Bowes in the first school tour of 2010. Cedar Hill sent two grade eight classes for a tour of the articulated Blue whale. The class was split into three groups (for Jesse, Natalie and I) to tour the three major articulated areas: the skull, the ribs and spinal column, and the pectoral fins. The physiological features for living in the water were discussed, such as the ability for the ribs to collapse to deal with the pressure as the whale dives under the water.

The Blue whale skull was casted by the Royal Tyrrell Museum because the whales skull was in fragmented pieces.

Nat talking about the "food falls in technique" of the baleen whales.

Students of Cedar Hill near the tail region of the articulated Blue whale.

The importance of the school tours is for students to get an opportunity to see the multiple stages of large project such as this for exhibits. In addition, the plight of the Blue whales’ marine environment is discussed, such as the increase in noise pollution, which makes it difficult for the loudest animal on our planet to find mates. This is significant for the Blue whale is listed as an endangered species due to over-whaling, with the population dropping to a couple of thousand from a pre-whaling population of 350,000. The current estimated population is 4,500 individuals, which indicates a slow increase. The increase in noise pollution indicates an raise in ship traffic, which can result in ship strikes and likely the death of this particular female Blue whale in P.E.I.