Saturday 13 January 2018

Natural History Museum, London

Whales: Beneath the Surface. In this season of short days, strong winds and choppy seas I usually manage a short break to London. This year the Natural History Museum was a must, firstly because they have the full skeleton of a blue whale in the main entrance hall to replace Dippy the dinosaur but also they have a special exhibition on cetaceans which is due to close at the end of February. The exhibition was outstanding. It took me almost 2 hours to get around it, examining the exhibits, watching the videos etc. There was a high tech bit where you could try your skills at echo location to catch fish but with my hearing ability I skipped that! One of the high points for me were orca jaws complete with teeth. I had read that orcas that feed on herring and mackerel had different wear on their teeth from those feeding on seals and porpoise. Well the difference in the teeth was remarkable. To finish the day I had to go to the Marine Mammal Hall. It is showing its age and needs a good dusting but it is nice to compare the sizes of the varying models displayed.

Interesting programme about it a few weeks ago Steve, apparently the whale stranded on Rosslare Strand back in March 1891 we missed it! 
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/wexford-blue-whale.html
Interesting programme about it a few weeks ago