Read on Twitter
There’s been a blue whale model at @AMNH for over 100 years. We just released a video about its history (). But there are a few facts/anecdotes I love that didn’t make the final cut. So, I present Whale Fails: A Thread 1/
In the early 1900s, people had only recently developed the technology to hunt blue whales. Before that, you’d be lucky to see a fin or fluke. This led to… inaccurate understandings of blue whale anatomy. 2/
But once we could kill blue whales with explosive harpoons and haul them up from the deep with steam-powered winches, the carcasses were available for study. They did not look great. 3/
Humans, being the jerks that we are, enjoyed jauntily posing with these dead animals. “Lars, grab this whale penis with me. Will this be a great holiday card or what?!” 4/
Museums were eager to mount blue whales for public exhibition, but taxidermy wasn’t particularly feasible. (There IS a rare mount at the Gothenburg Natural History Museum in Sweden, where on Election Day and Walpurgis Night, they open its mouth & visitors can climb inside.) 5/
Institutions like @NMNH and @AMNH opted for a model whale. In 1903, a Smithsonian expedition collected measurements and plaster casts at a Newfoundland whale processing company. 6/
A few years later, @AMNH copied the idea—and even the measurements—from the Smithsonian expedition. Their first attempt using papier-mâché failed pretty miserably, so the Museum put Roy Chapman Andrews on the case. 7/
Roy might have been a whale fan, but he’d never actually seen one in person. Like even a dead one. So, using those measurements taken from a bloated, dead whale, he and the team came up with this knockwurst. 8/
The NY Tribune threw some shade during its construction: “At present the whale looks like nothing so much as a submarine boat, and it is constantly mistaken for the latter by visitors to the museum.” 9/
The Sun reported that one of the workers “got a big square of cardboard, lettered in with blue pencil, and tacked it on to the starboard side of the puzzling object. The card read: This is A Whale.” Damn. 10/
Fast forward to the ‘60s. The conservation movement was in its early phases. The idea that animals could be endangered or wiped out by humans—and that was a bad thing—was gaining traction. @AMNH wanted a new whale for its centennial. 11/
A lot of ideas were thrown around: floating a rubber model filled with helium, propping it up on a pedestal from its belly, surrounding it with artificial water and some killer whales… 12/
The administrators had a late-breaking suggestion—“Maybe we could pose it diving down with its mouth open?”—and the curator in charge was frustrated. Here’s a letter where he diplomatically tries to say that’s a bad idea. 13/
Finally, the curator got so exasperated that he scornfully suggested the Museum create a life-sized dead whale in the middle of the hall. The beached carcass would be surrounded by scavenging birds and faux phosphorescent bacteria. 14/
“Let’s do it!” said the unable-to-detect-sarcasm-higher-ups. Planning got pretty far. Eventually, the curator halted production by telling a circle of patrons that visitors would be bathed in the scent of the decaying whale. 15/
“Let’s not do that, but do something else,” said the administrators (no doubt on the receiving end of some strongly worded notes from patrons). Instead, work began on a model suspended from the ceiling. 16/
During construction, the manager was anxious that the iron frame connected to a single steel pipe wouldn’t hold the model whale’s full weight. He made a rod exactly the length between the whale’s chin and the floor. 17/
Every day he made sure the whale wasn’t sinking. The construction crew decided to play a little joke. So, every day they added a tiiiiiny bit of glue to the end of the rod. And every day it got a little harder to shove that rod under the whale’s chin. 18/
Finally, he had the architects come in and do a formal assessment because he was so concerned about making the whale safe. Look, even a hapless toddler can play without fear beneath the great leviathan. 19/
One last story I heard—when the '60s model was unveiled at a fancy patron dinner, tables were arrayed under the whale. There was a large support post under the chin that at a climactic moment was kicked away. “Ta-da,” they said to probably terrified rich people below. 20/
The blue whale now at the Museum was sculpted out of that earlier model. My favorite things that were added? A bellybutton and mammary slits. At last, nipples! (Whales have nipples inverted in those slits and eject milk into the water after a nudge from baby.) 21/
This concludes the stream of unrelated whale model facts I find cool. Three great reads: @Bhmllr on model whales: https://rb.gy/svh2ic ; @OceanPortal on the history of whales at the Smithsonian: https://rb.gy/l3fvnf ; & @NHM_London on their model: https://rb.gy/g4axpd 22/
Last but not least, please watch the video for further excellent whale model info! 23/23
