#the whaling museum

[huntingtonnow]

Huntington Art Week to Feature Music, Exhibitions

Downtown businesses and organizations will host Huntington Art Week Feb. 19-26, offering the public more than 50 programs, including art exhibits, music, film screenings and workshops. Presented by Ben & Jerry’s Huntington and organized by digho and Colored Colors, this community-driven event aims to support local artists, engage residents, and boost local businesses. Event…

[amnhnyc]

Not only is the whale shark (Rhincodon typus) the world’s largest shark—it’s also the world’s largest fish! Growing up to 40 ft (12 m) long and weighing more than 40,000 lbs (18,144 kg), it’s often regarded as a gentle giant. Don’t be alarmed by its colossal mouth: This slow-moving species is a filter feeder, gulping down small marine animals like shrimp and plankton. It can be spotted in warm waters around the world, traveling thousands of miles each year to find food.

Did you know? Sharks and their relatives have been swimming in Earth’s oceans for about 450 million years. That's long before there were humans, dinosaurs, or even trees!

For more fun facts, check out All About Sharks on OLogy, the Museum’s science website for kids—and everyone else!

Photo: Muhammad syaran, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

[arthistoryanimalia]

Whale Effigy 🐳 Chumash (California, West Coast), c.1200-1600 Steatite, shell inlay, 7.1 x 9.5 cm Montreal Museum of Fine Arts 1950.51.Ab.9

[binkyfishy]

She nan on my tucket til i. She Ishmael on my Queeqyeg til i. she moby on my dick til i

[baebeylik]

The Charlotte Whale. The fossil remains of a beluga whale that were accidentally discovered in Vermont, USA in 1849 by workers on a railroad construction site.

The fossil is now housed at the Perkins Museum of Geology.

[khlacnh]

[saranilssonbooks]

Snapped this by mistake last week whilst at the museum and thought to myself "that reflection is probably something Ahab hallucinated seeing outside his window, lol". A few days later, I came down with tonsillitis and during a fever dream I had this image of him standing in his kitchen in the middle of the night, dressed in a night shirt, holding a half-eaten sandwich in his hand and staring out at a Moby Dick apparition. Maybe I'll doodle it some day.

[the-golden-vanity]

A 19th century whaling captain's quarters on his ship and his parlor at home: reconstructions from the Provincetown Museum, Provincetown, MA.

[vyeoh]

One of my new co workers wants to come to the science muesums with me and I will be so normal and neurotypical about it

[blueiscoool]

Blue Whale Skeleton at New Bedford Museum Still Oozing Oil

Those who have stopped by the New Bedford Whaling Museum have more than likely marveled over the 66-foot whale skeleton hanging from the ceiling.

Robert Rocha, the museum’s associate curator of science and research, said he has a silly, yet strange warning he gives visitors caught staring in awe at the whale, whose name is KOBO.

“I like to joke with visitors that are standing underneath the skeleton that this is a good reminder to not look up with your mouth open,” he said.

That’s because Rocha said the rare blue whale skeleton is actually leaking oil.

KOBO, short for “King of the Blue Ocean,” has been on display at the museum for 24 years now. Rocha explained that KOBO’s bone marrow is actually “full of oil,” even though the whale has been dead for more than two decades.

“It’s seeping out through the pores of the bones,” Rocha said. “The outer edges of the bone are a little more porous than human bones and [gravity is] just pulling the oil out.”

Rocha said the museum installed an oil catcher back in 2010 to begin measuring how often KOBO leaks.

“We wanted to know how much this thing drips on a weekly and daily basis,” he said.

The oil catcher consists of a series of tubes that start at the tip of KOBO’s rostrum and funnel down into a beaker.

“[The beaker] took several years to fill,” Rocha said. “We filled that flask once and it took eight years to do.”

“Had we done this early on, when this thing first went on display in the summer of 2000, we would have probably filled up another flask or two easily,” he continued.

KOBO is one of four blue whale skeletons on display across the globe, according to Rocha.

The whale was discovered wrapped around the bow of a tanker that had accidentally killed him back in 1998. KOBO’s carcass was eventually towed to shore and dissected for research and educational purposes.

Rocha said KOBO continues to make his presence known.

“[KOBO] still drips every day, but not nearly as much as he did 20 years ago,” Rocha said. “[The dripping oil is] also adding a little bit of a smell to the gallery, which gives visitors a sense of what it was like to be stuck on a whaling ship for three or four years.”

Rocha said he’s always been careful to not get dripped on while walking underneath the skeleton.

“How many times have I been dripped on? So far, zero,” he said. “I have gotten oil on my clothes while cleaning it, but in terms of oil dripping on me? None.”

That’s not the case for FUN107’s Chris Arsenault, who met KOBO while visiting the museum 10 years ago.

“I felt something wet on the back of my neck, and there was a brownish tint that ended up staining the back of my white-collared shirt,” Arsenault recalled. “I had to get rid of it.”

Arsenault has no hard feelings toward KOBO, though.

“If you ask me, that’s pretty lucky,” he said.

Rocha said back in the day, whalers would strip the blubber from the whales and turn it into liquid oil to use for lighting and heating. He believes KOBO’s leaking remains should serve as a reminder that whales are magnificent creatures and should be respected.

“Be careful and appreciate the animals,” he said. “Despite centuries of us hunting them, [whales] still treat us pretty well, and I’m not quite sure why to be honest.”

KOBO is expected to stop leaking within the next 30 to 40 years. Until then, Rocha said the occasional drippage will continue to serve as an educational opportunity.

By Sarah Bawden and Mike Montecalvo.

[lionofchaeronea]

Jonah Spat Up by the Whale, Jan Sadeler, ca. 1582

[no-living-thing-within]

Blue whale baleen, 1865

[amnhnyc]

🦑 Travel to the dark depths of the ocean for today’s Exhibit of the Day: the Sperm Whale and Giant Squid Diorama. In what is one of the most dramatic scenes in the Museum, a giant squid is caught in the mouth of a sperm whale, its tentacles grasping at the whale’s head. The winner of this encounter? Likely the sperm whale, but it’s tough to know for sure, because human eyes have never witnessed this battle. However, scientists have discovered parts of squid inside sperm whales’ stomachs, as well as scar marks on whales that match the suckers of a giant squid's tentacles!

Do you remember the first time you saw this diorama in the Hall of Ocean Life?

Photo: © AMNH

[arthistoryanimalia]

For #Woodensday:

Kwakwaka'wakw artist Baleen Whale Mask, 19th century Alert Bay, Cormorant Island, British Columbia, Canada Cedarwood, pigment, hide, cotton cord, metal nails From Brooklyn Museum’s “Climate in Crisis: Environmental Change in the Indigenous Americas” exhibition

[in-tua-deep]

Saw the most amazing little guy at the art museum today

[strangebiology]

Iceland's population is about the same as that of Miami, and they have two whale museums. This one is called "Whales of Iceland" and has life-sized models of real individual whales. I asked if they had names but apparently not. I like this because it's really hard to see how big whales are when there isn't a lot of scale in the ocean, but with this, you can walk right up to them and see. The narwal's size surprised me the most.