coming to a beach nearby...35 tons of week dead whale

Carlton

Carlton

Chameleon Enthusiast
Bet you don't have to deal with this every day!

My office is swarming like an ant heap today. Apparently there's a dead humpback whale floating near Glacier Bay, and our whale biologists are heading out to conduct a necropsy on it. There's a high probability it was hit by a large ship...cruise ship or freighter. These frustrated biologists don't actually get to handle their chosen creature of interest very often, so when one floats within reach they all get this fanatical gleam in their eyes and go somewhat crazy cutting fascinating bits off of it. And they bring them all home for the rest of us to experience whether we want them to or not. We do have a rule however, they can't bring the raingear or coveralls they wore while digging around in the carcass into the office...they have to take them directly to the incinerator. Boots can be soaked in bleach and industrial detergent but left outdoors anyway. Some years ago another whale washed close by and I was part of the crew that towed it to a sheltered beach for the necropsy. Even at the far end of a couple hundred yards of rope, chilled by 38 degree water, and downwind, the odor was "indescribable". We salvaged the entire skeleton from that whale and it took over 10 years of intensive scraping, soaking, boiling, and burying to get the bones approachable enough for visitors. The skeleton has been on display for about 2 years and its already moldy and attracting bears, wolverines, and porcupines. Just when we thought our noses had recovered...it starts all over again.
 
Virgil1972 said:
You should go cut yourself some meat off for they winter.
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Personally, I prefer fresh bowhead whale. All kidding aside, I have eaten subsistence-harvested "muktuk" (bowhead whale blubber) and it's excellent. Nothing like what you would expect. Delicate flavor and chewy. Not fishy at all. When an Inuit village group actually gets a whale everyone they know shares it. Walrus, moose, or bear that spent the winter stored in seal oil is another matter entirely.
 
Carlton said:
Personally, I prefer fresh bowhead whale. All kidding aside, I have eaten subsistence-harvested "muktuk" (bowhead whale blubber) and it's excellent. Nothing like what you would expect. Delicate flavor and chewy. Not fishy at all. When an Inuit village group actually gets a whale everyone they know shares it. Walrus, moose, or bear that spent the winter stored in seal oil is another matter entirely.
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I have heard it is very good. I cannot get any though, we have no whales in Wisconsin. I would like to try it.
 
Ha! I know exactly what you mean. When they found that preserved baby mammoth, one of our biologists- one of the few mammoth specialists in the world- was invited to lead the autopsy. The whole place went berserk!

... Until we learned that he'd turned down the opportunity because "it wasn't the right time for him".

The rest of us, who would have had a chance to go with him, were pretty ticked off to say the least. I mean.. it's a freaking mammoth! How often do you get to put your hands on one of those?? I deeply sympathize with your biologists, smell or no smell! :D
 
Oh the smell of melting marine life, we get the odd turtle once every couple months here in North Florida. I can't imagine what a few thousand more pounds of that smells like.
 
alphakenc said:
It will smell like a meat market in a hot sunny day,anyone care for a piece of whale jerky...
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It will smell like a combination of dead overheated squid, rancid butter or oil, on top of rotting roadkill. And, don't forget the fermenting intestinal contents...and the sheer tonnage. We could smell the last dead whale a couple of miles away. However, it will be a big multiple year feast for bears, ravens, eagles, gulls, wolves, wolverines, and coyotes, so it will attract photographers too.
 
Carlton said:
It will smell like a combination of dead overheated squid, rancid butter or oil, on top of rotting roadkill. And, don't forget the fermenting intestinal contents...and the sheer tonnage. We could smell the last dead whale a couple of miles away. However, it will be a big multiple year feast for bears, ravens, eagles, gulls, wolves, wolverines, and coyotes, so it will attract photographers too.
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Lollol,everyone should wear their personal air freshener necklace like the cross when they are within the radius,actually that will probably bring in the tourist attractions n great for all types of the business,the only question is how long will last since lots whale do follow each other n it will be all over again.
 
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