Our Pilote Whale
The skeleton of this pilot whale is from a young female. The animal stranded in November 2019 at a beach at Tromøya near Arendal.
The museum had a phone call from the NRK (Norwegian television broadcasting organization) to tell us about the whale carcass. They asked if we could exam the animal at plastic in the stomach (Pilot Whales sometimes see plastic for food). We opened the animal and found out that the stomach was empty.
Because this animal was complete and, as far as we could see at that moment, without any damage we decided to try to save the skeleton.
After months of removing skin, flesh and fat, finally in May 2021 we could start assembling the skeleton. We finished the job at the beginning of June 2021. (We had the plan to include UiA students from the faculty of Biology in the building process but because of the restrictions caused by Covid this was not possible)
The cause of death is not known. The fact that the stomach was empty pointed in a direction of an illness that has weakened the whale until the point that it was not able to hunt anymore…..but we are not sure.
