Whale Skeleton Preservation: Interview with Michel Martin, GREMM’s “Skeleton Master”

I had already been working at the CIMM for several years as a naturalist. It was winter and we had some downtime. It was an opportunity to start working on a new project, something different. I was accustomed to presenting the skeletons we already had on display in the showroom, but this time it was an opportunity to tell more personal anecdotes. It’s more interesting, not just for me, but for our visitors as well.

Not everyone has the opportunity to work on real whale skeletons, so that’s pretty cool! We learned a lot from folks who already knew the tricks of the trade, because they had worked on the first skeletons in the collection. It’s truly interesting to work on a real skeleton, since we’re starting with something that was once alive, an animal that had its own history. It is interesting to give it a second lease on life through stories.

There’s also all the dynamics surrounding the undertaking, so it’s a nice engineering challenge. You have to think that it is robust and delicate at the same time, in addition to being faithful from an anatomical perspective. You have to tinker around and ask a lot of questions. You also have to be a bit of a jack-of-all-trades, which is what makes it interesting. Sometimes we repair, sometimes we embellish. Ultimately it requires a lot of craftsmanship.

Replicas are a quick and easy way to get a skeleton. Even if they’re artificial, they’re still quite faithful to the real thing. What’s good is that you don’t need to clean them, they don’t have an unpleasant odour, there’s no oozing, they won’t change colour and they are quite sturdy. Not to mention that buying a beluga skeleton is a whole lot easier than finding a carcass and going through all the steps to turn it into a skeleton. However, it will always remain a replica.

There are four main steps.

1. Recovery and flensing

The idea is to recover a carcass that is still fresh and intact. Nowadays, we try to be more selective and strive to recover species that we don’t yet have in our collection. Also, the carcass must not be too far away and should be easy to recover. You need to put together a team of at least 5 to 10 people, depending on the size of the whale. It is also necessary to plan a budget and apply for permits, particularly with Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), especially if a species at risk is concerned. Then, depending on the researchers’ requests, samples must be taken or the carcass must be sent for a necropsy to the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Saint-Hyacinthe. It is generally the Quebec Marine Mammal Emergency Response Network (QMMERN) that manages the various cases and coordinates sampling.

2. Cleaning and drying

This is painstaking work. For the bones, you have to scrape, remove any organic material (flesh, tendons, cartilage) and clean with a pressure washer. Then, the bones are soaked in hot water, sometimes with a degreasing agent, or they are left to the elements before being left to dry. It may be necessary to repeat these steps several times depending on the result, the budget and the team at one’s disposal.

As for the baleen, they are mostly detached and cleaned with a pressure washer as well as a brush and soap. We remove all the flesh and keep only the keratin, which is what our fingernails are made of.

When the skeletons are cleaned properly, they keep well. Those on display at the CIMM have no varnish, acrylic or oil. We let them “breathe” and there may be a little oozing over time. On the other hand, if you look at the skull of the sperm whale skeleton, it was not soaked long enough, and there are traces of oil. You have to take your time until the oil seeps out of the bones.

It always depends on the skeleton you have to work with. The steps and equipment vary depending on the size of the animal and bone density. There are work-arounds, but there’s always a minimum of equipment that we need: tubs for soaking, steel rods for assembly, etc.

To hide the steel rods use to replace ligaments, for example, silicone can be used. It serves its purpose, but it’s sticky and not easy to work with. For Piper and the new skeletons, we were inspired by an artist who had worked on a blue whale skeleton in Vancouver. We used an epoxy paste that gives us time to sculpt before everything dries and hardens. This is a binding agent that gives structure, is adhesive and at the same time is attractive and easier to maintain. Pierre-Henry Fontaine, who’s a retired biologist and expert in whale anatomy, not to mention a friend of GREMM, helped us with several skeletons, from flensing to assembly. Sometimes we had anatomical issues. Pierre-Henry gave us a lot of tips on how to go about our work correctly. He was a good mentor.

For the three big skeletons, it took almost two years of full-time work, mostly with two sets of hands, and sometimes more. During the last few weeks of the project, practically the entire team worked on the assembly. Throughout the process, we have to work with welding workshops who also have their own schedules, as well as with engineers who help us with different kinds of cables and fasteners. There are lots of time constraints to manage.

We didn’t have access to the showroom because it was under construction, so we could not assemble them on site the way we had previously done for the sperm whale. In the meantime we rented a hangar where we pre-assembled the larger sections: rib cages, skulls, anchors, etc. We had to think carefully about our techniques and positioning beforehand. At the end of the process, all that was left to do was bring back the sections and complete the assembly. Much of the work was already finished.

The most recent skeletons in the collection were bleached with hydrogen peroxide, while others were just cleaned without attempting to make the colour uniform. Peroxide is a disinfecting agent, but above all it makes it possible to smooth out the colours of the bone. For a relatively new skeleton, which hasn’t lived through the seasons, it’s probably going to be a bit variegated. For a skeleton like the fin whale that has been lying around for years and not cleaned very well initially, you can have up to 12 different shades on a single scapula. These tones range from dark brown to pale brown to grass green, not to mention species of mould that can be purplish or pinkish in colour. In this case, hydrogen peroxide was the only solution.

A sensory experience in many respects, skeleton preservation remains unforgettable for all those involved. Michel will be at the CIMM next summer. Come meet him and listen to his stories about whale skeletons, as he has lots more to tell!