Elephant Seal in the Classroom!

GiveBIG 2021 -- This year we are ThinkingBIG, as in 2 tons!

Flashback: A 14-foot long, male northern elephant seal weighing 2 tons, washed ashore on Marrowstone Island in October 2018. The PTMSC’s Marine Mammal Stranding Network sprang into action. 

The team of PTMSC staff and volunteers participating in the northern elephant seal necropsy.

The cause of death was a mystery, so a necropsy was performed. And the elephant seal’s bones were preserved so that -- like Hope, the transient orca whose articulated skeleton is suspended from the PTMSC Museum ceiling -- people could learn about the massive elephant seal’s life and death.

The skull before we started the boiling process.Photo credit: Johanna King

Fast-forward: The elephant seal’s bones are now the foundation of a new PTMSC science curriculum being taught to marine biology students to inspire conservation of the Salish Sea.

Students from Chimacum High School participating in Elephant Seal in the Classroom curriculum

Here’s a sneak peek at the massive mammal’s preserved skeleton that’s being used in the classroom. 

GiveBIG 2021 is May 4-5 and we’re giving a live Zoom update about this exciting program on Tuesday, May 4 at 2 p.m., so be sure to mark your calendars. Here’s what we will cover:

• How the elephant seal was found;
• Transporting its bones to PTMSC for preservation;
• The process of cleaning the bones;
• How the curriculum for Elephant Seal in the Classroom was developed;
• Examples of the curriculum, and
• A testimonial from a student.

Please GiveBIG generously this year so that we can continue to fund programs like these well into the future -- just click here.

PS -- Thanks to a challenge match from a group of donors, the first $10,000 donated will be matched dollar-for-dollar!