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The installation of the permanent water exhibit at the Canadian Museum of Nature has begun! At this point the exhibit space is pretty bare bones, with only the floor installed and most of the supports put in place for the big components to come. The outline on the floor that looks vaguely like a big fish is where the 65 foot blue whale will eventually be displayed and the other steel supports show where the weather theatre and the kids play area (a big ship!) will go.
Empty Exhibit Space
The exhibit will display a few aquariums with a variety of specimens, but the biggest one which contains freshwater fish has already started to be installed! It holds 1000 gallons of water, or 10,000 pounds, and since it is the biggest of the aquariums going in, it requires special reinforcements to handle all the weight. There are steel beams set up underneath the aquarium to carry the load (which will be hidden from sight once construction is complete) as well as a plumbing system to help with maintenance.
Fresh Water Aquarium
One of the challenges the exhibit team faces when installing an exhibit in a construction zone is keeping things clean! Dust and dirt are flying around constantly which could potentially harm some of the specimens and present some unexpected difficulties. At this stage, the fresh water aquarium looks a bit murky, in part because it is in the early stages of installation, but also because of the dust in the area. The exhibit team will have to be careful to maintain the aquarium throughout the installation of the rest of the gallery in order to prevent damage and ensure the conservation of the specimens. This is just one of the issues with constructing an exhibit and moving things in simultaneously. Stay tuned for more progress!
A big part of the Water Project is the new permanent gallery to be housed in Ottawa, and a big part of that gallery is a real, full-sized blue whale skeleton. This skeleton will be close to 20m (65 ft)! It’s going to be a truly amazing experience to be able to stand next to a giant. I can’t wait.
A. McDonald
When a big specimen comes in that needs a lot of work, the technicians often give it a pet name. This is a bit of a tradition in the museum world. The name that was given to our Blue Whale is Tallulah. No one knows why, but that name seems to have come to her and it stuck.
I thought I’d share with you where Tallulah came from and how she ended up at the museum. Here’s the official history:
The beached whale was found at Codroy, off the Cape of Anquille, Newfoundland and was flensed on the beach under contract between April 22 and May 10 1975. It was a less than mature female.
The skeleton was shipped by rail car to Ottawa along with the rest of the accessioned material. The oily bones were removed to the NMNS Catherine Street building and the wooden rail car was burned on the siding by the rail company with the cost reimbursed by the NMNS.
Whales have a lot of fat in their bodies and when a whale dies that fat begins to turn rancid. If you have ever smelled rancid fat it is not a pleasant experience! But the worst part is that the horrible smell sticks around! I can only imagine what that burning railcar smelled like – and wish I hadn’t!
It became abundantly clear to staff in the building that the skeleton, along with the others required attention and the lot was hastily buried in the NCC tree nursery on Russell Road, in a sandy clay soil, for eight years.
In order for the soil bacteria to do their job, there have to be some specific conditions. From what I understand these were not the conditions in the place they buried Tallulah. When they dug up the skeleton a lot of the oil and fat was still in the bones. This means that they still stunk! If we were going to put Tallulah on display we would have to find a way to clean them.
In preparation for potential exhibit in the Water gallery it was recognized that (…) the blue whale skeleton was unsuitable for public display in its current condition. The challenge of de-oiling the skeleton in a cost effective, WHMIS-acceptable and secure way pointed to the use of enzymes in house. The skeleton is currently in two tanks; one 1000 liter and the other 6000 liter; bathed or sprinkled with a commercial enzyme cleaner and lipase (pancreatic) enzymes held at 50-55 degrees C for several months. It is the fourth whale to be treated this way following two in London and one in Copenhagen. (This whale) is more challenging because it is the most sizable (three times the size) at 19.8 m and 2.3 tons and because the oil is now thirty-two years old. Other natural history museums are curious about our project and possible applications.
A. McDonald
Tallulah is now being submerged in huge vats of enzymes, which are breaking down the oils and will leave the bones clean and ready to be prepared for display. Stay tuned for updates on this project!
A. McDonald
The big centerpiece of the new permanent water gallery will be a fully articulated blue whale skeleton. However, exhibiting a specimen like this has many challenges, beside the obvious one presented by its enormous size. The specimen being prepared is not complete, but we don’t actually know how many pieces are missing. There is a large variability in the number of bones in the spine and in the flippers. Not every whale has the same number. So the technicians and researchers had to work together to figure out how this whale’s skeleton should be built. After a lot of research and consultation a model of the skeleton was made and scanned in 3D. This scan was placed in a 3D rendering of the gallery. Then the technicians and researchers played around with poses and placements on the computer until they felt they had it right. The technicians are now busy building the few missing pieces so that a complete skeleton can be mounted and displayed.
A. McDonald
Clayton Kennedy explains how he is building these few missing pieces.
It is really quite simple. Contoured, shaped cardboard is glued up, carved and further shaped with a sharp knife when dried then covered with paper strips dipped in PVA glue diluted with water. The dried model is then sanded and painted. This is a very quick and inexpensive method that avoids the costly and hazardous use of resins.
A.McDonald
Most museum skeletons, both bone and fossil, have some elements that have been sculpted to fill in the missing pieces. So next time you visit a museum, take a closer look and see if you can tell the difference.
Coronula diadema
Whale barnacle
CMNPA 1999-0022
These egg to fist sized crustaceans are found on humpback whales (and reported from fin, blue, and sperm whales) especially on the lips, the long grooves of the throat and the genital region.
C.Iburg
Barnacles begin their lives as free-swimming larvae, but appear able to ‘smell’ a nearby whale when ready to settle down. They then develop the heavy calcium-rich plates that shield the barnacle’s soft body (now lost in this specimen). As the plates fuse together, the whale’s skin is drawn into the spaces between the plates, permanently stitching the barnacle’s shell to the whale. Even though the barnacle may only live for one to two years, the whale carries the shell around until it can find a way to scrape it off.
C.Iburg
Luckily, the barnacles only attach to the surface layer of the whale’s very thick skin and blubber layer. They don’t harm the whale, just hitchhike through the plankton-rich water that the whales enjoy.
Designing a gallery around a topic as important and all-encompassing as water has a special set of challenges. A big one is deciding what gets included and what gets left out. Our exhibitions content developer Nicole Dupuis explains some of the tough choices she has had to make:
When it comes to deciding which specimens to put on display in a gallery, having lots of items to select from would seem like a good thing. But if you’ve ever tried to decide which brand of laundry detergent to buy when faced with a wall of soap at your local superstore, you know that too much choice can be overwhelming.
The new Water Gallery features a long ribbon of display cases that wraps around a gigantic Blue Whale skeleton. This section illustrates how the ocean is full of life: from microscopic plankton, to lacy algae, ethereal jellyfish, brilliant sea stars, monstrous deep-sea fish, spiny crustaceans, streamlined mammals and so on. Imagine a snapshot of marine biodiversity.
C.Iburg
Currently, 200,000-300, 000 marine species have been identified worldwide. Our CMN collection includes hundreds of thousands of individual specimens. They range from dried whole specimens, skeletons, wet specimens in jars, as well as models. It’s been tough narrowing it down to an amount that will fit in 6 (albeit large) display cases.
OK, that’s a tough choice. So how do you pick a couple of cases of specimens from a possible 300,000??? I’m not sure I’d know where to start! Luckily, Nicole has a system.
To help us in our choice, we’ve established a few guidelines:
- Focus on Canadian species, since we know them best.
- Show a sampling from all of the big groups of species, instead of trying to be exhaustive about it. The goal is to highlight diversity, not give a precise taxonomic list.
- Be opportunistic: choose specimens that tell great stories, are easy to display, look really good, and can take the harsh exhibition conditions (bright lights, etc).
C.Iburg
It’s not easy deciding on the final cut. As the content developer, I rely heavily on the researchers, the exhibit designer, and the collections staff to help me make the right choices.
Slowly but surely, we’re finding the specimens that will bring our Water Gallery’s stories to life.
I’m sure the end product will be a stunning snapshot of those 300,000 species! I look forward to seeing what is chosen. I also have a new appreciation for those amazing display I see in the galleries at the museum.
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