A blue whale skeleton is seen in the courtyard of the Gladys Valley Marine Studies Building at Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, with the Yaquina Bay Bridge in the background.
Courtesy of Darryl Lai via Oregon State University
Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport will hold a celebration of its recently installed 70-foot-long blue whale skeleton this week.
It’s one of just five fully assembled blue whale skeletons on display in the U.S.
The event on Thursday, July 16, from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. will include speakers from the Marine Mammal Institute, and a seminar on their research on blue whales.
The whale’s body was discovered near Gold Beach, Oregon, in 2015. It was a decade-long effort to get the bones cleaned and assembled for the display, which is aimed to educate the public about the endangered mammals. Blue whales are the largest animals ever to live.
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