A team of researchers from Oregon State University's Marine Mammal Institute is working on a plan to save the skeleton of the 78-foot-long Blue whale that recently washed up on a southern coast of the state.
Bruce Mate of the OSU's Marine Mammal Institute said he was working with a team of students to remove the dead whale's skin, blubber and flesh so that they could get the skeleton and preserve it for public display in the future. Mate said the task will take several days to complete.
Logan Pallin, a graduate student at the university, said, "Messy, smelly - but I study humpback whales, so for me it's sort of neat to see. I've never seen a blue whale, so it's pretty spectacular."
Mate added that the whale skeleton would likely be on display at the OSU Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport by the year of 2018, when the university will have completed a new building for students of undergraduate programs.
The cause of the whale's death is yet to be determined. The carcass washed up on a beach north of Gold Beach on 2nd of November. OSU researchers say it was the first whale in more than a century to wash up on an Oregon beach.
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