Part I. STRANDED RIGHT WHALE WASHES ASHORE
On March 12, 1991, a dead right whale was found along the coast of Amelia Island, Florida near Fernandina Beach. Beachgoers reported the huge whale to the Florida Marine Patrol, which then contacted a unique group of scientists, government agencies, and volunteers who participate in the Marine Mammal Stranding Network. Researchers from around the country gathered their gear and began converging on the site. Photographs were taken of the carcass and extensive measurements were made of the body. The total length of the animal was just over 10 meters (about 33 feet). Using a front-end loader, the carcass was then loaded carefully onto a flatbed truck and taken to Fort Clinch State Park for examination.
THE WHALE HAD A NAME
After researchers began examining the whale, they recognized her as a young female that they had been studying in the wild. She was known to whale biologists as No.1907 (in the North Atlantic right whale catalogue) but was affectionately called "Buoy Boy"and she was about 2 years old. Her mother, "Brunswick" (No.1407) was also a known whale. Buoy Boy had been seen alive in the Bay of Fundy in 1990. She was given her name after she was seen with three buoys wrapped around her tail and before her gender was determined. Two weeks before her death she was sighted near Daytona Beach, Florida. At that time, she was still entangled in the net that was tightly wrapped around her tail and she was unable to swim normally.
A WHALE SIZE NECROPSY
A necropsy (the term autopsy is reserved for humans) was performed on the whale. In attendance were biologists from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, University of Florida, Florida Museum of Natural History, New England Aquarium, and several other associated scientists and volunteers. The procedure was directed by Bob Bonde from the USFWS who has done such examinations on numerous whales. Performing a necropsy on such a giant requires lots of scientific skill, blubber lifting, and the ability to stand strong smells at close range. Researchers focused attention on the fishing gear that was attached to the tail. It was a monofilament gill net with some attached floats and was wrapped tightly around the tail so that the line actually penetrated the skin and blubber. There was some scar tissue that had grown over the line.
The carcass was decomposing but there were still numerous tissue samples taken from the whale. These included skin, blubber, kidney, liver, and lung samples to name a few. Each organ system was examined carefully. In the esophagus, researchers found black mud that is similar to sediment found in the Intercoastal Waterway and unlike the coquina sand that is found along the beach. The same type of mud was also found inside the vaginal canal of the whale. The final clues of the animal’s death came when researchers closely examined her skull. They found many severe fractures on the right side of her upper jaw. Around the broken bones, they also found clotted blood and bruises. Bob Bonde, who has also performed necropsies on manatees that are hit by boats, noticed similar signs of trauma on this whale.
Using all of the scientific evidence gained during the necropsy, it appeared to investigators that the whale had been swimming with the fishing gear attached but that the infection from the gear did not directly cause the animal to die. Instead, the fishing line may have prevented the whale from swimming properly and may have weakened her. It appeared that the animal died as a result of blunt trauma to the head caused by a large boat. The mud found inside the body could have been forced in if the whale had been hit by a barge and the impact pinned the animal against the bottom sediment of the waterway. Her death was immediate after impact.
Part II. Making The Most Of A Sad Situation
The death of any right whale is tragic especially since only about 300-350 are estimated to live in the waters of the western North Atlantic. There are, however, some good things to be made of the death of Buoy Boy. Researchers from around the country gather detailed information about the biology of this species using every right whale carcass found. Cetaceans spend their entire lives under the sea so their behavior and life history is difficult to study. The examination of a dead whale provides a snapshot of information about such species.
THE ROLE OF THE FLORIDA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
Laurie Wilkins, collection manager and Jim Thomason, both of the mammal range at the Florida Museum of Natural History, participated in the necropsy of Buoy Boy. Laurie's main objective was to help secure the skeletal material and baleen for long-term preservation at the museum. The baleen was removed from the whale, frozen, and later cleaned and preserved. Some of the skeleton including the skull was collected (not an easy task!) and taken back to the museum where the bones were cleaned, dried, and given a catalogue number. The vertebrae were not collected at the time of necropsy because of their great size and the difficulty of removing them from the body. The entire backbone was buried in a shallow pit on the site (Fort Clinch State Park). The site was marked and monitored with the goal of later returning to the site to retrieve the rest of the skeleton. That’s exactly what the museum recently did.
THE GREAT WHALE EXCAVATION OF "99"
How does a sunny day at a beautiful Florida beach sound? What if it included digging up the bones of a right whale? Even better! A team from the mammal range at the Florida Museum of Natural History and a biologist from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service arrived at Fort Clinch on May 12, 1999 and were led to the site by a park ranger. The very tips of the cervical and thoracic vertebrae were just sticking out of the sand. The digging started right away. It was fairly easy to get the pieces out and lined up. The hard part was dodging the biting ants that had set up their homes among the bones. The vertebrae were examined to make sure that they were all there, loaded into a pickup truck and taken to a shady spot for cleaning. The next day the bones were cleaned to remove the dirt and weeds that had grown among the vertebrae were pulled out. The vertebrae were then brought back to the museum collection and reunited with the rest of the skeleton. The bones and baleen will be available for scientific study and represent one of the few complete skeletons of a right whale in Florida. The collection of cetaceans at the Florida Museum of Natural History is one of the best in the country with over 550 specimens from the Atlantic and Caribbean.
