NEWPORT, Ore., July 15 (Our Oregon Times) — A blue whale skeleton that washed ashore on the southern Oregon coast in 2015 is now fully assembled and on display at Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport.
OSU says the exhibit sits in the east courtyard of the Gladys Valley Marine Studies Building and is open to visitors. The university also says a public celebration is planned for Thursday.
What is on display?
The whale was an adult male that measured about 70 feet long, according to Oregon State University’s Marine Mammal Institute. The bones weigh about 5,500 pounds.
OSU mounted the skeleton on a steel support system so visitors can see the animal in full size. The institute says the display is one of only a handful of blue whale skeletons available for public viewing in North America, and the only one between Vancouver, British Columbia, and the San Francisco Bay area.
How did the skeleton get from the beach to the museum courtyard?
OSU says the whale stranded dead near Ophir, Oregon, in November 2015. After that, the Marine Mammal Institute worked with Dinosaur Valley Studios, a fossil-exhibit company based in Alberta, Canada, to restore the bones and prepare the display.
The university says a five-person team from Dinosaur Valley Studios spent three years cleaning, restoring and preserving the bones and building the steel frame that holds them up.
Why does the exhibit matter?
Blue whale skeletons are rare in public displays because the animals are so large and the bones are difficult to clean, move and mount. OSU says this exhibit gives the public a chance to see the scale of one of the ocean’s largest animals in a coastal Oregon setting.
OSU’s Marine Mammal Institute says the project was planned over many years and has been a major effort by staff, contractors and supporters. In earlier project updates, the institute said fundraising was still part of the work and that a public celebration would follow once the exhibit was finished.
What should visitors expect?
The skeleton is now in place at HMSC, and OSU says people are welcome to stop by and view it. The university’s project pages say some finishing touches, such as landscaping and signage, were still being completed around the time the display opened.
For Newport and the southern Oregon coast, the exhibit turns a decade-old stranding into a public science and education display that shows just how large a blue whale really is.