The Blue Whale at the
Museum of Natural History
BY LORRAINE BERTAN,
CULTURAL COMMITTEE
One of the most spectacular
exhibits at the American
Museum of Natural History
is the Blue Whale, which is
suspended from the ceiling of
the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life.
Like any precious object, there
are housekeeping chores involved
and the Blue Whale must
be cleaned on a yearly basis. To
clean it requires a hydraulic lift to
accommodate a man with scrubbers
and a vacuum working on a
ten ton object suspending from a
ceiling encompassing two stories,
as shown in the photo. Three days
are required to clean the whale,
the largest animal ever!
The cleaning began on
September 5, 2019, and was
supervised by Dean Margosian,
Director of Project Management
in the Exhibition Department of
the American Museum of Natural
History. The model of the Blue
Whale is 94 feet long and weighs
10 tons; and is made of fiberglass
and contains 25 gallons of cobalt
and cerulean blue paint, and is
suspended by a single bolt from
the ceiling. It was modeled using
photographs of a female Blue
Whale found beached on the
southern tip of South America
in 1925.
The Blue Whale is a mammal,
giving birth to live young and many
adaptations have occurred during
the 55 million years since it transitioned
from land to water. Its body
is completely streamlined, with the
reproductive organs enclosed within
the body. The bones are denser
than that of terrestrial mammals,
since it must be able to completely
submerge the body in the ocean.
The Blue Whale does not have teeth
in its adult stage and has sheets of
baleen, protein like our fingernails,
which are suspended from its jaws.
It has numerous pleats around the
mouth to accommodate a huge
jaw which opens to take in 41,000
gallons of sea water containing
microscopic krill (tiny shrimp) and
the huge tongue pushes the krill
down the narrow gullet. Whales
have complex ears, which provide
indication about their ages, and
whales communicate in the water
which carries sound.
Why did whales make such a
drastic change in their environment?
The fossil record describes
the transition which took 55 million
years, and thanks to the vestigial
organs found in the fossils of extinct
whales, paleontologists have been
able to tease out the relationships
between whales and cows and
hippopotamus. Ancient whales
may have resembled Pakicetus, a
possible ancestor, which walked on
four limbs, and fur and huge jaws.
The fossil record of ancient whales
shows the loss of rear limbs, the
presence of vestigial double pulley
ankle bones, which are found in
modern artiodactyls like cows,
sheep and bison.
DNA shows the closest relative
of the whale is the hippopotamus,
an artiodactyl, which has very
dense bones and gives birth in
the water. Embryologic evidence
reveals that baleen whales had
teeth in their embryonic stage
which are lost in the adult, linking
them to the toothed whales like
the Killer Whale, dolphins and
porpoises. To show the close
relationship of whales and other
mammals, like us, look at the anatomy
of the human arm and the fin
of the whale in the accompanying
diagram.
The Blue Whale is on permanent
exhibition at The Museum of
Natural History. The museum is
located at Central Park West and
79 Street and is open daily from
10am until 5:45pm. Visit amnh.org
for ticket pricing and additional
information.
Hadassah’s Migdal Chapter November Program
Howard A Israel,
D.D.S., will be the
keynote speaker
on Wednesday, November
6. He will speak on the
topic Biomedical Ethics
and Relevance Today. Dr.
Israel is internationally known for
his work as a clinical researcher
and expert in the field of temporomandibular
joint disorders, surgery
and arthroscopy.
Dr. Israel was the President at
Temple Isaiah. A conversation
with the Temple Rabbi sent Dr.
Israel on a quest to uncover the
dark secrets of the origins of
the famous classic anatomy
book, Pernkopf’s Anatomy,
which is used by all medical
schools. As a result, he
played a major role in the
discovery and recognition
of the Nazi origins of the
famous book, its implications, and
the issues surrounding biomedical
ethics.
Dr. Israel is a Professor of
Clinical Surgery at Weill Cornell
Medical College and Adjunct
Professor and course director for
pain and anxiety control at Touro
College of Dental Medicine at New
York Medical College. He is also a
director of the New York Institute
of Clinical Oral Pathology.
Previously, he was a professor of
Clinical Dentistry at Columbia
University School of Dental and
Oral Surgery.
We are most privileged to have
Dr. Israel as a fellow North Shore
Towers shareholder. We invite ALL
to this interesting meeting to hear
Dr. Israel’s revelations firsthand.
SAVE THE DATE:
Wednesday, November 6, 7:30pm
– Large Card Room, Bldg. 2
Speaker: Dr. Howard Israel
Dr. Howard Israel
Photo Courtesy Navid
Baraty, “Gothamist”
48 NORTH SHORE TOWERS COURIER ¢ October 2019
/amnh.org
