A blue whale skeleton buried in Prince Edward Island 20 years ago will see the light of day for the first time this weekend when a team of University of British Columbia scientists exhumes its remains.
The dig, near the town of Tignish, PEI will reveal the condition of the skeleton that will be the centrepiece of the Beaty Biodiversity Museum at UBC — the first such exhibit in Canada.
“As with any exploration, there is a mixture of excitement and anxiety,” says Andrew Trites, a researcher at the UBC Biodiversity Research Centre who is leading the exhumation and preparation of the skeleton.
“Canadians are getting a front-row seat to a rarely witnessed developing story of biodiversity — how the smallest organisms have devoured the remains of the largest animal on Earth.”
A team of veterinary students and pathologists from the University of PEI will join the UBC team this weekend to uncover and prepare the skeleton for transport by rail to Victoria, B.C., where it will be prepared for display. Students from PEI’s Holland College will also visit the site as part of a wildlife conservation course.
“We’re pleased to have provided a rest stop for this national treasure for two decades,” says Pierre-Yves Daoust, a wildlife pathology professor at UPEI’s Atlantic Veterinary College, “and thrilled to be part of its ongoing legacy to educate and inspire Canadians and visitors around the world on the delicate ecological balance that makes Earth precious and unique.” Daoust was in PEI when the whale carcass washed ashore.
There are currently only four other blue whale skeletons on display in North America. In addition to the blue whale skeleton, the Beaty Biodiversity Museum will also feature more than two million specimens of mammals, fish, shells, fossils, insects, birds and plants.
Follow the dig with Photo of the Day posts at www.beatymuseum.ubc.ca.
For background information on blue whales and the Museum, see the original announcement of the blue whale project at www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/media/releases/2008/mr-08-023.html.
BACKGROUND: Unearthing blue whale skeleton in PEI
Bio: Andrew Trites
Dr. Andrew Trites is Director of the Marine Mammal Research Unit at the Fisheries Centre, part of the College for Interdisciplinary Studies at UBC. He is also an Associate Professor at the Biodiversity Research Centre in the Faculty of Science.
Trites has previously salvaged the skeletons of a killer whale, a minke whale, and two Steller sea lions with funding from Petro-Canada’s Community Partnerships Program. They are currently on display at UBC’s Aquatic Ecosystem Research Laboratory. The skeletons were articulated by B.C. master skeleton articulator Michael deRoos, who will be undertaking preparation of his largest skeleton yet with the blue whale project.
Bio: Pierre-Yves Daoust
Dr. Pierre-Yves Daoust is Professor of Anatomic Pathology and Wildlife Pathology at the Atlantic Veterinary College (AVC), University of Prince Edward Island, and the coordinator of the Canadian Cooperative Wildlife Health Centre for the Atlantic region. He specializes in diagnostic pathology of free-living wildlife and works primarily with carcasses of wild animals found in the field by wildlife officers and members of the public in the Atlantic provinces.
Since 1987, when the blue whale carcass washed ashore, the Wildlife Group of the AVC has been closely monitoring whale strandings along the shores of PEI.
Support For The Blue Whale Project
Air travel of the UBC team is supported by West Jet. Transport of the blue whale skeleton is supported by CN Rail.
For a list of other sponsors and to support the project, visit www.beatymuseum.ubc.ca/projblue06.html.
– 30 –
