U.S. Coast Guard pilots collected the remains of a humpback whale at a Point Loma beach Monday that may be added to a new exhibit at the San Diego Natural History Museum.
Museum researchers have been preparing the carcass for weeks. Workers from the Cabrillo National Monument were notified in February about the whale’s body washing ashore where it has been decomposing on the beach since then.
Connected and ready to fly. pic.twitter.com/wLPvZixweU
— Erik Anderson (@KPBSErik) April 13, 2015Jayhawk helicopter pilots made several passes before lifting the whale’s skull and jaw, both weighing up to 300 pounds.
Coast Guard pilot Marvin Gates called the operation both unusual and routine.
"We do a lot of sling load operations or external loads,” Gates said. “Typically, we do a lot of training at Imperial Beach, so this is a great opportunity for us to actually come and do some training with a real time load in an area where we don't typically do the training.”
Scott Tremor, a mammalogist at the San Diego Natural History Museum, said the bones are heavy and bulky.
“We're gonna move it to a site back in the mountains where we're going to bury it,” Tremor said. “And that's where the domestic beetles will end up eating the decaying flesh.”
The bones will be soaked in a bacteria-rich bath after the beetles finish. Tremor said scientists will be able to use the skeleton for research after the bones are clean enough.
The whale bones may be added to a display at the museum, which has approximately 7.4 million specimens in its research collections.
