Whales at the Harvard Museum of Natural History

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The whale room was awash with grade school students. Staring wide-eyed at the stuffed gorilla, sitting on the floor, sketching and taking notes on the okapi. The three whale skeletons hanging from the ceiling were the capstone. A sperm whale, fin whale and a right whale. I see humpbacks in the wild all the time, and we have some bones lying around the office waiting for a display to be built. But here was the real thing, up close and assembled. It is the baleen thing that has always confused me. Even though I once helped cut baleen out of a Humpback's mouth during a necropsy, exactly where it is located and how it meshes with the rest of the mouth has always been a bit of a mystery.

With just the bones and baleen in place, and in your face, it is easy to see how the baleen hangs from the upper jaw, and only the upper jaw. The lower jaw bones are minimal but thick and strong, just enough framework to hang the big expandable pouch that balloons out with sea water when the humpbacks are feeding. If a humpback was a pelican just think of the baleen as hanging inside of the top part of the upper bill all along its inside edge. The baleen always hangs inside. When the lower jaw is ballooned full of water (and food) the jaw is opened just a little bit and the baleen combs out the food as the water is squeezed out the narrowly opened mouth. Photos of a humpback feeding always looked a little confusing to me and I think it was because most animals have more to their 'face' above the jaw than below. Humpbacks, especially when they are feeding, have a huge area below the jaw and a tiny area above. Plus the mouth is curved 'backwards' - the natural shape of a humpbacks mouth is a 'frown' with the back end very down turned... but it all works. It's just a bit confusing, unless you are a baleen whale...

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Comments

[Blue]

Awesome 19th c. galleries w/500 mammals
The Harvard Museum of Natural History displays some 12,000 specimens from the University's vast collections of over 21 million. It's just a 7 minute walk across historic Harvard Yard from the Harvard Square Red Line T station...and open 9 to 5 361 days/year. Info at www.hmnh.harvard.edu

[Samuel]

Great museum. I hope you take the chance to see all the Harvard collections while you're there. If I recall correctly, the Sackler was my favorite when I was there.