Dead baby sperm whale goes for science

• Horse manure compost works like magic in decomposition process

By Naomi Klouda
Homer Tribune

The carcass of a baby sperm whale that washed ashore at Jackalof Bay in early July is currently soaking in a horse-manure compost heap at the Kasitna Bay Research Laboratory in an attempt to speed up decomposition.
The female sperm whale, about 14-feet long, died from a variety of congenital ailments July 3. Marine wildlife officials were surprised to see a whale of this species in Kachemak Bay. Tania Spurkland, a retired science teacher working on her doctorate, said the ocean giants that grow to 67-feet tend to stay in deeper waters where they can dive to 3,000 feet. A necropsy was completed the next day, then the lab was given permission to claim the carcass for a science exhibit – this one at Susan B. English School in Seldovia.
As for how the whale died, SeaLife Center Veterinarian Pam Tuomi said it was likely born with several compromising health issues. Tuomi said the whale’s spine was deformed. “That would make it so that the whale couldn’t breathe or possibly even nurse from its mother normally,” she said. “There are several more tests out that will take months, but it appears to have died of complications from a sinus infection.”
One of the tests will compare the baby’s genetic information against other sperm whales found dead in Alaska waters over the years.
Spurkland said she knew it was a rare opportunity to obtain a sperm whale skeleton for education purposes, and was eager to take on the challenge.
However, finding the right recipe for cleaning flesh off bones took some serious brainstorming.
“First, we placed the bones in crab pots at the lab and were careful to put mesh around so the small bones wouldn’t be lost,” Spurkland explained. “Then we lowered the crab pots off the dock at the lab. The hope was that arthropods, small shrimp-like carnivores, would clean off the bones. We checked them after a week and there had been relatively little activity.”
Time to find a new plan.
Since that didn’t appear to be working right, Spurkland decided to contact Homer author Lee Post. Post has a Web site at www.boneman.com instructing teachers on how to conduct school projects rebuilding mammal skeletons.
“He was concerned that – since it was so young – maybe the bones weren’t completely formed,” Spurkland said. “He indicated that, while that method worked for other species, he had never had much success with whale tissues getting cleaned. He also said the longer we left it there, the softer the bones would get over time.”
The Kasitna Research Lab team then lifted the crab pots back out of the salt water, and set off in a new direction.
“He recommended we get the bones out of salt water and use a method used at the Smithsonian – except they use elephant poop”, Spurkland explained. “It uses the bacterial action in heat created by compost to clean the bones.”
Since elephant manure isn’t in great supply around Homer, Post thought horse manure would be the next best thing.
And it takes a lot of horse manure to cover a baby sperm whale.
Marianne Beck of Halibut Cove offered manure produced by her horses, and the Kasitna team took the lab boat over to shovel load after load of it into totes.
Spurkland’s husband, Tobben, built a composting bin in a five-foot square area in an enclosed structure at Kasitna Bay Research Lab. The couple are experienced at composting since Seldovia has little topsoil. They mixed the manure in the bin with sawdust chips, then buried the bones in layers. Every few days, they would evaluate how well the process was working by inserting a thermometer in the compost heap. Temperatures rose to a toasty 160 degrees.
“That’s really nice and warm for a compost pile,” Spurkland said. “We were told that in Washington D.C., it would be done in three weeks. Well, in Kasitna Bay, it will take a little longer.”
Still, the process is proving speedy enough.
Now in its third month, the team has already been able to excavate the pile every now and then to remove bones cleaned of flesh. Presently the skull is still in the pile.
Another advantage of the horse manure is its ammonia content. When Spurkland did a beluga whale project at Dimond High School, she used a 50-gallon oil drum to cook the meat off first, then put it in an ammonia solution.
Horse manure lets them skip that step.
However, Spurkland did have one complaint:
“The smell is tremendous.”
Not all the details are worked out yet, but when the process is finished, the hope is to present the bones to Seldovia teacher Tim Winters so that students can assemble the skeleton via a process called “articulating.”
Homer High School also has a sperm whale skeleton hanging in the commons.

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Posted by Newsroom on Sep 9th, 2009 and filed under More News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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