Skull of sperm whale from 2014 Yorke Peninsula mass stranding stripped and studied - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation):
"The beaching of a pod of sperm whales in 2014 has given Adelaide-based researchers a rare opportunity to study the ocean mammals.
Scientists at the South Australian Museum have removed one of the whale's skulls from a macerating vat, where it has spent the past 12 months.
After drying and cleaning, the skull will join the rest of the skeleton, which the museum hopes to put on public display.
The whale was one of seven that beached themselves on Yorke Peninsula in 2014, but museum staff say their research will not be able to explain why the pod became stranded.
David Stemmer, the collection manager of mammals at the South Australian Museum, oversaw the skull retrieval.
"It's a fairly big skull, it weighs probably around half a tonne," Mr Stemmer said.
"It needs heavy equipment to get out of the tank, so we've asked our neighbours from SA Water to bring the crane truck and sit the whale up for the crane to then lift out of the vat and onto a trolley that I've prepared."
Extricating the skull from the vat, where water and bacteria slowly rotted away its flesh, was a delicate operation.
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"The beaching of a pod of sperm whales in 2014 has given Adelaide-based researchers a rare opportunity to study the ocean mammals.
Scientists at the South Australian Museum have removed one of the whale's skulls from a macerating vat, where it has spent the past 12 months.
After drying and cleaning, the skull will join the rest of the skeleton, which the museum hopes to put on public display.
The whale was one of seven that beached themselves on Yorke Peninsula in 2014, but museum staff say their research will not be able to explain why the pod became stranded.
David Stemmer, the collection manager of mammals at the South Australian Museum, oversaw the skull retrieval.
"It's a fairly big skull, it weighs probably around half a tonne," Mr Stemmer said.
"It needs heavy equipment to get out of the tank, so we've asked our neighbours from SA Water to bring the crane truck and sit the whale up for the crane to then lift out of the vat and onto a trolley that I've prepared."
Extricating the skull from the vat, where water and bacteria slowly rotted away its flesh, was a delicate operation.
'via Blog this'
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