Come visit the PTMSC when we "daylight" the gray
whale bones on the Pier for a long dose of sun and warmth. For this one-day-only event, staff and volunteers will be on hand to answer questions about gray
whales, how this one came to be part of the PTMSC collection, and what we can
learn from marine mammals in our midst. You can also learn more about the
Marine Mammal Stranding Network at work right here in Port Townsend.
In May of 2016, a juvenile gray whale died in Elliott Bay in
Seattle and was towed to a site on Indian Island provided by the US Navy. A
team of volunteers, staff, and AmeriCorps members assisted with the necropsy
and additional preparation of the body for preservation of her skeleton. The
PTMSC has been storing the skeleton until it can be articulated for use in
educational programs and exhibits.
Using Unmanned Hexacopters to Measure Orcas in the Wild
presented by Dr. John Durban of NOAA
Sunday, October 11 at 3 pm
Fort Worden Commons $10 General Admission | $5 PTMSC Members | FREE Teachers & Students
Dr. John Durban is a population ecologist with a primary focus on killer whales, which he has studied for more than 20 years. He now works with the NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, California.
The focus of Dr. Durban's lecture will be the use of small unmanned aircraft as a photogrammetry tool. To-date, Dr. Durban has flown 60 flight missions with a small hexacopter above killer whales collecting images to conduct research on killer whale abundance and demographics, studies of individual size, growth and body condition, and analysis of movement patterns using photo-identification and satellite telemetry.
Dr. Durban currently works on the population assessment of eastern North Pacific gray whales, the ecosystem role of killer whales in the North Pacific and Antarctic, and the response of beaked whales to Navy sonar exposure.
—
THE 2015/16 FUTURE OF OCEANS LECTURE SERIES explores the frontiers of ocean research and emerging technologies as they confront the human capacity to know and sustain oceans.
We did it! Hope's skeleton is together (at least for now). There are a very few finishing touches for the next week, but the big stuff is done.
Deanna spent many hours this week working on recreating one of Hope's pelvic bones. That's right, she has a pelvis! We had her right pelvic bone but had to recreate the left one. Then came the several days of research and head scratching to find the final postion to mount them. Come by to see what we decided.
Hope's orginal pelvic bone on the right and the recreated one on the left.
Next came the task of placing the scapulae and flippers. Again we scratched our heads, looked at lots of photos of swimming, diving and breaching orcas, moved the flippers and scapula to different postions and rotated the flipper to make sure it would be anatomically correct. We decided on a position that fits perfectly with her graceful diving position.
Deanna and Lee hold the right flipper and scapula while the rest of us guide the position.
We also put some finishing touches on the rib cage to make sure it would be strong enough to stay in the position we carefully worked on last week and to hold the weight of the scapulae and flippers. We used epoxy clay to add strength to the all-thread pins and then covered the epoxy with clear silicone to match the vertebrae.
Heather, Linda and Chris molding the epoxy clay.
Becca worked hard to weld and custom fit the cradle that will safely hold Hope's 80 pound skull in position. This required several trips back and forth to her shop for "fitting sessions". Then the cradle was painted and padded before being secured to her skull with a one inch all-thread rod.
Becca and Lee adjust the skull cradle.
Some of the last bones to be attached to the skeleton are the v-shaped chevrons beneath the tail. Watch the video below to see how Eliza and Chloe recreated this unique piece of orca anatomy.
Before we could try mounting the skull, the last vertebrae needed to be drilled. The cervical, or neck vertebrae are some pretty interesting bones. The seven vertebrae are fused into two sections, making them a bit tricky to drill.
Roger prepares to carefully drill the cervical vertebrae.
We arrived Friday morning to a highly motivated Lee Post, who quickly had us ready to mount the skull. It took twelve people for this first effort, mainly because we had to drill the hole where the set screw inserts into the all thread rod holding the skull in place--and because we were kind of nervous!
Seroius faces as we manuver the skull into position.
Becca drills the hole for the set screw.
Lee prepares to attach the mandibles.
After we attached the skull (and let out our breath) we attached the flippers to the scapulae. Sue and Linda represented "team flipper" by gently guiding each of them into place while Lee set the screws that hold them securely.
Sue holds the right flipper while Lee and Linda attach the left flipper. The rope adds support.
We were on a roll and the next step was to insert the tail piece. Before we could do that, we had to raise the whole whale a few inches so that the tiny bone on the end of the tail couldn't hit the hard floor.
Up she goes!
The tail piece inserted smoothly with another set screw to hold it in place. More adjustment to the hanging ropes made sure Hope stays balanced and secure.
Eliza, Lee, Chloe, Heather, Becca and Sue hold the tail in place.
It took alot of volunteers alot of hours to put Hope back together. Here are almost all of us with this beautiful whale!
For those of you who haven't heard the news, Hope's skeleton will be stored in sections throughout the Natural History Exhibit and classroom for the time being. Although it will be a while before we are able to build her a home, we are glad her presence will remain here. Learn more about our capital campaign to build Hope a home HERE.
We knew the time would come when Lee had to return to his life as a book seller in Homer, Alaska (and author of really cool bone building books found at his website theboneman.com). We will miss his smile, enthusiasm, and amazing ability to get everyone involved in this project. We appreciate his kind and gentle guidance as we turned this table full of bones into a beautiful whale. Lee has become a part of the PTMSC family, so he can't stay away for too long. In fact, he's already dreaming up new projects for us!
Hope's week began with a trip to the dentist. Well, actually the dentists came to her.
Local dentists Henry Nichols and Dave Pitts spent two full days attaching the lower jaw and adjusting her bite so that these powerful teeth fit together perfectly. The teeth are actually casts of the original teeth. You can learn why we had to make these "orca-dentures" and how we did it HERE.
Volunteers Kim Kopp and Laura Rosenburg have been working non-stop for the past three weeks reconstructing bone damage to the skull. Here's a look at their amazing work.
Both pectoral flippers are nearly complete. "Team Flipper" put in many hours using cat scan images of the right flipper to place each tiny bone in exactly the right spot. The final step is adding layers of clear silicon caulk to replace the cartilege.
Repairs began on the small, v-shaped, chevron bones which fit under the tail section of the spine. One of these was sliced by a flensing knife when the flesh was being removed from the tail before it was buried in the manure pile. Volunteers Chole and Eliza crafted a special piece made of paper clips and water putty to replace this sliced off bit.
Marine Mammal veterinarian, Dr. Pete Schroeder, stopped by to check on our progress. Dr. Schroeder was one of the first people to respond the stranding in 2002 and has followed the study of this whale closely ever since. He helped us piece together some questions we had about the bone deterioration in the skull and the placement of the teeth. In talking with Dr. Schroeder, it seems that Hope had bone loss in her skull which was likely related to the infection she had when she died. He also helped us work on placing some of the ribs.
Work began on the rib cage early this week. This is a particularly finicky part of the process, especially with the forward ribs which each have two parts and are connected to the sternum. Progress is slow, but steady as we ensure that each rib is perfectly spaced, oriented correctly and flows into the rib cage with its neighbors. It takes time but the result is beautiful!
In case you haven't noticed, we got cool t-shirts and hats this week, too! Thanks to a generous sponsor, all the proceeds from the shirts and hats go directly to the Orca Project Capital Campaign fund. This campaign will fund our future Ocean Science Hall and the programming and exhibits that will make it an amazing place filled with vibrant science in action. You can get your own shirt during our open houses over the next two weekends-- open house times are here.
Last but not least, Hope made the news. Check out this clip from King 5 television.
Week 2 of the orca articulation is rapidly coming to an end and things are really beginning to come together (literally).
Can you see the bubbles floating around? Silicone and bubble soap are used to fill in between each vertebrae; the silicone serves as the filler while the slippery bubble soap allows our nimble-fingered volunteers to mold the sticky silicone into the specific shape we want. Don't worry, the skeleton won't be emitting bubbles for perpetuity; Libby, Chrissy and I just couldn't resist a little after-work fun...
Eliza and Chloe Dawson took on the important task of "mapping the curve" for the position of the skeleton:
The pipe was then bent to match the created curve and vertebrae were drilled and assembled onto the pipe:
Work on the flippers and skull is continuing to move forward with great progress. Finished products will be highlighted in later blog posts.
Linda Dacon and Deanna Pindell in the workshop
Glenn Waldenberg and Darryl Hrenko have been working on the tail portion of the skeleton. See and hear about Glenn's experience in his video interview below.
Can't wait to see what we will be working on next!
The first week of the Orca Articulation Project is already coming to an end and we are making great progress! This week has been an exciting and busy time as volunteers finish final cleaning on the bones and start putting the pieces of this whale together. You can learn the story of our orca, named Hope, on our Orca Project web page.
A few highlights from this week's work:
Volunteers Sue and Karen describe the process (so far) of assembling an orca flipper:
One of the most inspiring parts about working on the Orca Project is how it has attracted the support and attention of so many members of our community. A local glass artist created these "Hope Beads" to sell and is donating all the proceeds to the Orca Project! These one of a kind creations will be available at our open Skeleton Articulation Open Houses on Fri-Sun, 1-4pm, February 4,5,6 and 11, 12, 13.
We hope to see you in February. What part of the whale do you think we will be working on by then?
What do you get when you combine an orca skeleton and a team of dedicated volunteers? At PTMSC we have combined the two to form the Orca Project. The current goal of this citizen science project is to measure and photograph the bones of a deceased transient orca. Once all the bones are measured and photographed, we plan to put it all together in a reference guide called the Orca Bone Atlas.
Jennifer Jackson, of the Peninsula Daily News, stopped by last week to check out the Orca Project and wrote up an article about what we are doing. Check out the online article here, or pick up the paper from Monday, July 6th to read the full article with pictures.
Want to see what it takes to measure and photograph orca bones? Stop on by the Natural History Exhibit from 10 am to 3 pm on July 13th, 15th, 16th, or 17th and we can walk you through it. Our volunteers, like Katherine and Debbie in the picture above, will be working on the project all week. Admission to this special "living" exhibit is included with your admission to the Port Townsend Marine Science Center which includes both Natural History and Marine Exhibits.
In 2005, Governor Christine Gregoire officially made the orca the marine mammal of Washington State. This year, for the third year in a row, she has made June Orca Awareness Month! (Click here to see the signed declaration as a PDF and here to see Orca Network's calendar for Orca Month events.)
Here are the Port Townsend Marine Science Center, we are celebrating by presenting four orca-themed programs throughout the month of June. These programs cover two main topics, All About Orcas, and Listening for Orcas. See below for the schedule and descriptions.
Sunday, June 7, 2:30 pm: All About Orcas Saturday, June 13, 2:30 pm: Listening for Orcas Sunday, June 21, 2:30 pm: All About Orcas Saturday, June 27, 2:30 pm: Listening for Orcas
All About Orcas: Do orcas have family structures? What do they eat, and how do they find food in the vast ocean? Where do they travel throughout the year? Dive into this topic and discover the differences between transients and residents, and how scientists can tell based on diet, social interaction, and even dialect. This program is in the Natural History Exhibit, which is our building on land.
Listening for Orcas: What do orcas sound like and how do their vocalizations travel underwater? Is the ocean a loud environment? Find out the answers to these questions and more in this Orca Month program. Get a chance to learn about how scientists study orcas by listening to our active hydrophone research station and get more information on how you can listen for orcas from your home computer. This program is in the Marine Exhibit, which is our building on the pier.
Also, have you seen our new events calendar? You can plan your trip in advance by seeing what programs or other events may be happening while you are visiting us this summer. Interested in tsunamis, low tides, or bugs? We've got a program for you! Go to the events calendar to see what's in store for you this summer at PTMSC.
Tuesday, April 21st, 2009 - Frontline journalist Hedrick Smith will investigate the poisoned waters of Puget Sound and Chesapeake Bay. The special, titled "Poisoned Waters," can be seen on PBS or online between 9 and 11 pm. “The environment has slipped off our radar screen because it’s not a hot crisis like the financial meltdown, war or terrorism,” Smith says. “But pollution is a ticking time bomb. It’s a chronic cancer that is slowly eating away the natural resources that are vital to our very lives.” To view a trailer, click here.
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009 - In Jean-Michel Cousteau's series, Ocean Adventures, he and his crew explore the lives of orcas. The crew will travel worldwide to find these apex predators, and discuss how the health of orcas intersects with that of humans. To view a trailer, click here. To view trailers of other episodes, including those featuring sharks, beluga whales, and gray whales, click here.
Last night, on both Lime Kiln and Orcasound hydrophones, listeners were surprised to hear some peculiar sounds. Not the sounds of orcas, or the regular shipping traffic, but the sounds of human voices and mid-frequency sonar pings. I'm listening to the recordings made by Scott Veirs of Beam Reach now and it is very obvious that these sounds are not a part of the natural environment.
To listen to the recordings, go to the Lime Kiln or Orcasound hydrophone sites, scroll down through the archived sounds, and click on one of the most recent recordings with the words "voice" and "sonar" in the title.
Also, the Port Townsend Peace Movement is holding a meeting on Thursday, April 9th at 7:30 pm to discuss the Navy's proposal to expand training exercises, which includes areas in Admiralty Inlet, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the Olympic National Marine Sanctuary. For more information on this meeting, and how to send in your comments to the Navy by April 13th, click here.
Where were you on the evening of Thursday, March 19th? If you weren't listening to the PTMSC hydrophone then you were missing out! J Pod snuck by around midnight and, luckily, Scott Veirs of Beam Reach and the Salish Sea Hydrophone Network recorded their vocalizations and posted it on the Port Townsend Hydrophone site. To listen, go to the archived sounds section and scroll all the way down. The most recent recording is on the bottom. Live audio from any of the Salish Sea hydrophone nodes can also be played on iTunes, Real Player, or Winamp.
I know I write about orcas on the hydrophones a lot, but... Go to OrcaSound.netright now, click on "Listen to OrcaSound on San Juan Island" (works on RealPlayer, iTunes, WinAmp), and hear some of our resident orcas! I hear at least J pod and, thanks to MarineTraffic.com, the cargo ship, Star of Sawara.
As I reported last Thursday, while teaching a class on Sound Underwater, we got a very special treat. While listening to ship noise on our hydrophone, we also heard orcas. Orcas! Chrissy McLean, PTMSC's Marine Program Coordinator, ran to confirm what we were hearing and also to call Orca Network so they could get out on the water to identify the orcas.
Last night, on King 5 News, this exciting story was reported. At the very end of the informative 2-minute segment, PTMSC was mentioned. Anchor Dennis Bounds said, "This most recent visit was first reported by a volunteer at the Port Townsend Marine [Science] Center who was letting a visiting class of third graders listen to some hydrophones when they suddenly heard dozens of approaching orcas."
To see the video, click on the image above. Thanks to blog reader Daphne for letting us know we were on the news!
While teaching a Free Science Class on Sound Underwater this morning, I turned on the hydrophone so the kids could hear the sounds of Admiralty Inlet. I expected to hear the ferry and maybe a tug or cargo ship. We heard those things, but we also heard orcas! It was hard to believe that we had such amazing luck, so we wrapped up the class and headed outside to locate the orcas. Off in the distance, towards Marrowstone Island, we could see a few spouts and splashes. Even though the orcas were far off, the kids were excited to see them. And I, well, I was excited too! Seeing the kids so interested in our resident megafauna was wonderful, and reminds me of why I love sharing knowledge with others. What an inspiring experience!
I've just received word from Susan and Howard over at Orca Network that there have been two new calves sighted with the Southern Resident orcas! Here's what they have to say in their weekly report:
Ken Balcomb of the Center for Whale Research confirmed "there are two new calves (one in J and one in L), but we are not officially specifying mums yet. We are conferring with Dr. John Ford and our Canadian colleagues before stating possible mothers. We would like to have several encounters with the babies and their mothers before assigning because grandma's may also confuse things."
This is really great news! If the calves survive, it would bring the So. Resident population up to about 85 - still way too low for this fragile, endangered population, but every new birth counts and moves this population in the right direction. It is especially good news after the loss of seven members of the So. Residents last year (which included 2 of the 3 calves born, and several reproductive age females). Let's hope the whales come back into inland waters again soon, so researchers can have more encounters and confirm who the new moms are.
I'll keep my ears and eyes open for any more news regarding an increase in our resident orca population. Until then, think happy thoughts for these whales!
Local news coverage on KOMO mentioned the Salish Sea Hydrophone Network I wrote about in the last post. They compare two of the hydrophones and acknowledge that boat noise in our waters can have a detrimental effect on the endangered Southern Resident orca population. Click here to view the short video on KOMO's website or here for a text version.
Speaking of last post, we weren't the only ones watching the orcas pass through. Howard Garrett of Orca Network on Whidbey Island was on the water identifying the orcas. He took this great picture of J1 (right), known as Ruffles, and K12 (left), known as Sequim.
What a sight! I've just gotten back inside after hearing and seeing orcas out in Admiralty Inlet, just off our Marine Exhibit building towards Whidbey Island. As we watched, amazed by the number of orcas, Chrissy McLean, Marine Program Coordinator here at PTMSC noted that they seemed to be feeding. We watched their spouts while waiting for a large ship to pass by so we could listen to vocalizations on our hydrophone.
Did you know we're part of a hydrophone network? It's called the Salish Sea Hydrophone Network and includes five different stations around the Salish Sea. To hear our hydrophone, click this link: Listen to Port Townsend Marine Science Center. (It will open in iTunes or Winamp.) Check out our hydrophone site profile for more information and to see photos of the installation of our hydrophone here.
