The skeleton of a sperm whale carcass which washed up on Jurong Island is set to be displayed at the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum when it is fully preserved.
Dawn Karen Tan, Channel NewsAsia 31 Jul 15;
SINGAPORE: Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum said on Friday (Jul 31) it wants to raise S$1 million to preserve the skeleton of the sperm whale carcass that washed up on Jurong Island earlier this month.
Private donors have already come forward to help in the preservation of the adult female whale, which museum staff are affectionately calling "Jubilee Whale" or "Jubi" for short.
Donors include Former Singapore High Commissioner to Brunei Joseph Koh and Expand Construction, the main contractor which built the new Lee Kong Chian Natural History museum. The museum is inviting support from the public who wish to contribute to the project.
"We feel that we can do more to make our museum a living classroom, a site of family learning that all Singaporeans are proud of," explained Mr Koh. "We can enthrall our kids with the largest mammal on earth, we can spark their curiosity with the many surprises of Singapore's biodiversity despite our size."
The cause of the whale's death has not yet been ascertained, but researchers said part of the spine was chipped and cracked, possibly damaged by a ship's propeller. Forensic analysis also found that one of the whale's rib bones had been fractured. It is not known if the fracture occurred before or after the whale died.
A team from the museum spent the past three weeks at Tuas cleaning and removing the flesh from the skeleton. Researchers from the museum explained that they have blanched the skeleton to remove the flesh. They added that they still have to remove grease and pests, and bleach the skeleton before it is ready for display.
The animal is the first sperm whale found in Singapore waters and the third reported in South-East Asia. The museum said it will display the skeleton of the whale once it has been fully preserved.
Sperm whales, the largest carnivores on earth, are classified as a vulnerable species.
- CNA/xq
Museum hopes donors will make a whale of a difference
NEO CHAI CHIN Today Online 31 Jul 15;
SINGAPORE — When the skeleton of the dead sperm whale that washed up near Jurong Island eventually goes on display at the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, visitors could be treated to much more than a set of bones.
They could be using interactive tools to explore what is inside sperm whales’ bodies, and watching videos of living whales and how the carcass was recovered after it was discovered on July 10.
The museum is looking to raise S$1 million for the project and donations will go towards the preparation, mounting, exhibition and maintenance of the whale, it announced today (July 31).
Two donations have already been made. The museum’s main contractor Expand Construction is contributing S$50,000, while Mr Joseph Koh Kok Hong and his wife, Mrs Koh Pei-fen, are contributing an undisclosed amount.
Mr Koh, a retired diplomat, is an honorary research affiliate of the museum and an expert on spiders. He and his wife, both 66, were inspired by the collective effort of the public, the museum team, government agencies and the media in retrieving the carcass for research and education.
The specimen would be a poignant gift to future generations, Mr Koh told reporters today.
Expand Construction’s deputy managing director Edwin Soh said it was a “good cause for us to take on”. Both parties have previously donated to the museum.
Asked about the sum of money needed, the museum’s deputy head Rudolf Meier said: “If you want to do a big exhibit, you don’t just want to show a skeleton. You want to also show the recovery effort and you have to have media for that. You may want to have interactive tools to allow kids to explore the inside of the body of the sperm whale. And there are ways of doing this now very convincingly.”
Professor Meier added: “But if ... you only have funding for just showing the skeleton, then it’s a much less effective, a much less interesting exhibit.”
The museum is also looking to hold a temporary exhibition of parts of the sperm whale — the first recorded in Singapore waters and the third in South-east Asia — before the full-fledged exhibit is ready.
It would be “a miracle” if the temporary exhibition could happen by this year, said curator of birds and mammals Marcus Chua.
Cleaning of the whale bones is 70 per cent complete, said conservator Kate Pocklington. The bones could be transported from Tuas Marine Transfer Station to the museum by the end of August, but it would still be “far from the display stage”, said Prof Meier.
Unlike some other whale skeletons that have been preserved, the team is salvaging 30 to 35 discs, which are near the sperm whale’s spine, although scraping the meat off is tedious. Among other steps, the bones have to boiled and soaked in industrial degreaser.
It is not known what killed the 10.6m-long adult female whale, although it was likely to have been hit by a propellor.
Singapore’s old Raffles Museum and National Museum were previously home to a baleen whale skeleton from around 1907 to 1974, when it was given to Malaysia’s Muzium Negara. The skeleton, from a whale stranded in Malacca in 1892, is now with the Maritime Museum in Labuan, off Sabah.
Parts of whale may be viewed by year's end
Carolyn Khew, Straits Times AsiaOne 2 Aug 15;
The work to preserve the sperm whale found recently in Singapore waters is underway - and parts of its skeleton could be on display by the end of the year.
"We plan on getting the whale skeleton ready for exhibition in 2016, but parts of the skeleton could be viewed by the end of this year," the deputy head of the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, Professor Rudolf Meier, told The Straits Times.
An adult female sperm whale, 10.6m long and weighing between 8 and 10 tonnes, was found in Singapore waters for the first time on July 10. Since then, museum staff have been working almost every day to preserve its carcass by removing its flesh and collecting its tissues for further research.
Museum staff said that about 70 per cent of the work has already been done although oil has to be removed from the whale's bones, which must then be bleached before going on display.
"We are quite amazed at the work that has been done so far but there is still a lot to be done," said Mr Marcus Chua, curator of mammals and birds at the museum.
The whale carcass is still at the Tuas Marine Transfer Station next to the National Environment Agency's Tuas Incinerator Plant but parts of its spine and shoulder blade were shown at a media briefing yesterday.
The museum now hopes to raise $1 million towards setting up the whale exhibit and other areas, such as supporting related education and research efforts.
While $46 million had earlier been raised for the museum, Prof Meier said additional funds are needed as the whale was not part of the original budget.
"The previously raised funds were used to build the new museum and the present gallery," explained Prof Meier, who added that the museum wants the whale exhibit to be "impressive, ambitious and well done".
"You may want to have interactive tools to allow kids to explore the inside of the sperm whale's body," he added.
So far, a construction company and a couple have stepped forward to donate more than $50,000 for the project.
Expand Construction, which is also the main contractor for the museum, is donating $50,000, while Mr Joseph Koh, an honorary research affiliate of the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, and his wife, Mrs Koh Peifen, are donating a five figure sum.
Mr Koh said that he and his wife decided to donate to the cause in the hope that other Singaporeans will also pitch in.
He added: "This is our very own Singapore whale. If we can give the skeleton the pride of place at the new museum, it will be a highly symbolic SG50 gift from Singaporeans to the future generations of Singapore."
Singapore got its first and only complete large whale carcass in 1892. The 13m-long baleen whale had been found beached in southern Malacca that year and its skeleton was subsequently displayed in the old Raffles Museum from 1907 to 1974.
It was then presented as a gift to Malaysia's Muzium Negara and is now housed in the Labuan Marine Museum off the coast of Sabah.
Sperm whales are the largest carnivorous animals on earth. They are regarded by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as vulnerable to extinction.
Ms Kate Pocklington, conservator at the museum who is also involved in efforts to preserve the whale, said: "We are lucky enough to be in this line of work where we can see these things... (We) feel small just standing next to it."
Whale of a find
New Paper AsiaOne 12 Aug 15;
10.6m
The length of the sperm whale, which is estimated to weigh between 8,000 and 10,000kg.
Researchers at the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum are used to handling animal carcasses for their research and conservation efforts.
They have a regular recovery committee and framework for recovering carcasses such as rats and medium-sized animals such as dolphins.
However, nothing prepared them for the 10.6m-long sperm whale that was found off the coast of Jurong Island on July 10.
One of the museum curators, Mr Marcus Chua, 31, said: “Our training is based on small animals like rats, leopard cats and sea turtles, so it was a challenge to translate our training from a rat to a mammal with a heart the size of an armchair.”
Miss Kate Pocklington, a 28-year-old conservator, added: “It was very overwhelming to see the carcass in person. It took me awhile to take in how large the whale actually was!”
Braving the blazing sun, humidity and strong stench of the decomposing carcass, researchers work from 9am to 6pm every weekend, pausing every hour for short breaks to ensure they do not get heat exhaustion. The entire project has taken a month so far, and the researchers are hoping to complete the cleaning process by the end of this month.
Mr Chua said: “The smells changed during the different stages of (the) cleaning process. Initially, it smelled like rotting flesh, then meat gone bad and finally, old rotting oil.”
Miss Pocklington admitted that she was used to rotting carcasses as it was part of her job, but took extra precaution by adding medicated oil to her face mask to block out the stench of the whale.
Apart from the smell, the team had to deal with blowflies and maggots that were attracted to the decomposing body, and were feasting on carcass remains.
The researchers also had to cut the whale’s stomach open to investigate its diet. It consisted of squid beaks and plastic refuse.
DIET
Curator Foo Maosheng, 27, said: “By examining the contents of the gut, we got an idea of the whale’s diet and were also able to get more information about deep sea life.
“Currently, humans have a very shallow understanding of what lurks in the deepest areas of the ocean.”
One of the biggest challenges was time.
Miss Pocklington said: “We were working against time for the initial few days as we were trying to remove and preserve the important organs for research before they decomposed.”
For Mr Foo, one of the main challenges was getting the logistics organised.
They were not prepared for such a big animal and there were initial issues, such as working out locations to place the carcass and finding a container to keep the skull in.
However, the team believes that it will be proved to be worthwhile.
Miss Pocklington said: “I feel extremely lucky to be part of this project despite all its challenges, as we will be able to share our findings with the public for them to enjoy and hopefully learn more and develop a further interest in wildlife.”
Donate online to the Jubilee Whale here http://lkcnhm.nus.edu.sg/nus/index.php/donate2/22-donate/273-donate-online-3
