2. Restoring the Skeleton , Santa Barbara

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Restoring the Skeleton

In March 2010, the post-cranial bones of the Museum's Blue Whale skeleton were sent to

Academy Studios in Novato, California for a thorough restoration. The original skull remained at

the Museum because it was too badly deteriorated to be restored. The new skull and mandibles

(jaw bones) of the Museum’s newly restored Blue Whale skeleton is from a similar-sized Blue

Whale that stranded in Ventura, California in September 2007 (#SBMNH 2007-19). Below are

pictures that show the restoration process of the post-cranial skeleton and the assembly of the new

skull and mandibles to the skeleton.

Stripping old paint, bondo and

fiberglass repairs from a Blue

whale vertebrae.

Stripping old paint from one of

the vertebrae.

Post-cranial bones after beingcleaned of old paint, bondo and

figerglass.

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Replacement and repair of

vertebral processes using foam

board and fiberglass.

Comparison of cleaned

vertebrae on left and stabilized

and repaired vertebrae on theright.

Ribs stripped of old paint,

bondo and fiberglass.

Ribs after being stabilized andrepaired using marine epoxy.

Forms used to make replicas of

phalanges (finger bones) that

are being replaced on the

refurbished mount. Whales

have individual digits on the

inside of their flipper.

Terminal caudal vertebrae (tailvertebrae) borrowed from Los

Angeles County Museum of

Natural History to make cast

replicas for our refurbished

Blue Whale skeleton.

Cast replicas of terminal tail

vertebrae for use on theMuseum's refurbished Blue

Whale skeleton.

Finished cast replica of the

terminal tail vertebrae for useon the Museum's refurbished


Recently refurbished cervical

vertebrae (neck vertebrae) for the Museum's Blue Whale

skeleton. Note the



intervertebral disks that were

modeled to fit in between each

of these vertebrae.

Refurbished Blue Whale

vertebrae with the first primer

coat of paint. Note that the

holes in these vertebrae have

not yet been resized to fit the

larger diameter of pipe that will be used to support the

refurbished skeleton.Drilling rig used to resize the

holes in the vertebrae for the

larger pipe that will be used on

the refurbished skeleton.

Vertebrae drilled to larger pipe

diameter. Note the notch cut at

the base of the hole through the

vertebrae. This notch will slide

along a strip of steel welded to

the pipe to keep the vertebrae

from rotating on the pipe.

Vertebrae suspended on pipe

supports for ease of painting.

First mockup of the ribs and

thoracic vertebrae using wood

supports to hold ribs in place.

The ribs provide support and

protection for the chest region

(heart and lungs).

Mock up of the rib cage using

wood to support the ribs and

steel gantries to support the

reassembled thoracic vertebrae.



Mockup of the rib cage using

wood to support the ribs.

Another view of the mockup of

the rib cage using wood

supports.

Paul Collins, Museum Curator

of Vertebrate Zoology, is

pointing out to the Academy

Studios staff modifications

needed to correct the rib

orientation. Reviewing mocked

up sections of the skeleton prior

to building permanent steel

supports was a critical stepduring the remounting of the

skeleton ensuring that the

refurbished skeleton is the most

anatomically correct mount of a


Paul Collins, Museum Curator of Vertebrate Zoology standing

at the back of the mocked up

thoracic cavity pointing to the

reassembled lumbar vertebrae.

Pete from Academy Studiosexamining the new Blue Whale

cranium prior to stabilization

and repair work on this bone.

Bones of the new skull duringstabilization work. Marine

epoxy was used to harden the

porous inner core and friable

outer surfaces of these bones

prior to repairing the bones.



The new Blue Whale cranium

after stabilization with marine

epoxy.

Reassembly of the new

refurbished Blue Whale

skull. The left maxillary and premaxillary bones are being

lifted into place and the

reassembled vulmar bone is

sitting on pipe supports to the

left side of this photograph.

Academy Studios crew working

on reassembling the left side of

the rostrum for the new BlueWhale skull.

First orientation of the

refurbished left mandible to thereassembled Blue Whale skull.

First reasembly of the skull and

mandibles for the new BlueWhale skull.

Second and final placement of

the mandibles relative to the

reassembled skull. The lower

mandible is the largest single

bone of any animal.



Final orientation of the

mandibles relative to the new

Blue Whale skull. Thereasembled skull is still being

supported with a temporary

wood and pipe support

structure.

Reasembled new Blue Whale

skull and mandibles with new

support steel in place.

Academy Studios crew holding

hyoid bones in place under the

reasembled Blue Whale skull as

the Museum crew evaluated the

orientation or these bones

relative to the ventral surface of

the cranium. The hyoid bones

help to control the tongue and

protect the trachea.

Pete holding the sternum in the

location which was chosen for

its placement on therefurbished skeleton.

The sternum is anchored

by steel supports to firmly holdthe bone in between the first

four ribs. The sternum is

sponsored by True Blue Friends

in honor of Museum Executive

Director Karl Hutterer.

Paul Collins, Museum Curator

of Vertebrate Zoology holding

up a cardborad cutout of thefront limb bones to determine

the precise placement of these

bones relative to the remainder

of the reassembled Blue Whale

skeleton.



New steel supports for bones of

one of the front flippers. This

steel is located on the back side

of the bones and will not be

readily visible when the

skeleton is viewed from the

side. Michelle Berman, Museum

Associate Curator of Vertebrate

Zoology (5' 2" tall) standinginside of the reasembled rib

cage. Note that the wood

supports have been replaced by

steel supports that will support

the rib cage.

Recently galvanized steel that

will be used to help support

various parts of the refurbished


Applying final coat of exterior

grade latex paint to therefurbished ribs for the

Museum's Blue Whale

skeleton.

Most of vertebral column for

the refurbished Blue Whaleskeleton reassembled on the

new galvanized pipe support.

COMING SOON!

November 10, 2010

The Museum's Blue Whale

newly restored skeleton

returns to the Museum!


2. Restoring the Skeleton , Santa Barbara

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