Blue whale study done by Richard Ellis, in preparation for Jacobs Gallery mural. The distinctive throat pleats of all rorquals are clearly visible in this image. From NBWM collections, 2000.10.

Another exciting discovery has been made by cetacean biologists, this time in one of the four Families of the suborder Mysticeti (baleen whales).  The Balaenopteridae are also called rorquals, a reference to the throat pleats that run from chin to the middle of their bodies.  The term rorqual is based on the Norwegian word royrkval, which means ‘furrowed whale’.

Rorquals are the largest family of baleen whales, consisting of nine species, including the blue and humpback, which are represented in our Jacobs Family Gallery, and the fin and minke, which are commonly seen during whale watch tours in Massachusetts waters.  They all feed by gulping large amounts of water into their expandable throats and then forcing that water through their 500-800 plates of baleen back into the ocean. The animals that are left behind, typically krill or small fish, then get swallowed. This process is also known as lunge feeding. It requires an incredible amount of muscle power, since the whales are working against immense volumes of water. We all know how hard it is to run through water. Imagine trying to swim through it with your mouth open, a mouth that takes up 20% of your body length.

Several articles published on Wednesday, including this one, explain how the newly discovered sensory organ, located between the tips of the mandibles, regulates the feeding process.

The actual scientific paper that reports the discovery was published yesterday in the journal Nature. For those who want a more scientific explanation, the abstract from that paper, authored by the Smithsonian’s Nick Pyenson, and several others, can be viewed here.  Mr. Pyenson was one of the people summoned to the Atacama Region of Chile last year when a highway project unearthed dozens of fossil whale skeletons, and they had to be removed and taken away quickly.

The next time you’re at the New Bedford Whaling Museum, in the Jacobs Family Gallery, take a look at the lower jaws of the blue and humpback whale skeletons. You’ll notice that the lower jaws, unlike toothed whales or humans, are not connected at the tip (symphysis). In between those mandibles would be the organ described in the article. If you look at the North Atlantic Right Whale you’ll notice the same lack of fusing between mandibles. However, since right whales are not rorquals (they don’t have throat pleats) they would not have this sensory organ.

Humpback whale lunge feeding. Photo courtesy of Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, Plymouth, MA.

A recent event provides more insight into the cognitive and interpretive capabilities of whales. This story by Candace Calloway Whiting in Digital Journal is an engaging account of humpback whales coming to the rescue of a mother and calf gray whale pair under attack from a pod of transient orcas. Unfortunately the efforts failed, perhaps because the majority of the humpbacks were not able to arrive in time to drive off the orcas. (The orcas’ well-planned, persistent attack could easily be subject of another article about cetacean intelligence.) Yet, the fact that these animals sensed the distress of another species, communicated this concern to others of their own group and then expended a considerable amount of energy to assist that other species, is remarkable.

The often subjective debate about cetacean intelligence will continue apace until we learn to speak Whalish. Until then, we will rely upon the many dedicated researchers and behaviorists who spend their hours deciphering the communication and interactions amongst these marine mammals.

For those of you living near the Museum, we invite you to take a look at the new “What’s Going on in That Head of Yours?” exhibit. Here we examine the similarities and differences between the heads of odontocetes and mysticetes, since this is where many of the differences exist. As part of the exhibit we have put the brain of a Risso’s dolphin on display. The commentary on intelligence was prepared by NBWM docent and retired brain surgeon, Dr. William Renehan.

Mark Leary, Korey Martin and Dana Costa install custom doors and panels made by GNB Voc-Tech carpentry students for “Scrimshaw: Shipboard Art of the Whalers” opening May 13, 2pm.

Building the many and varied display cases needed for the world’s largest scrimshaw exhibit would have been a daunting task were it not for the students of Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School. Voc-Tech’s carpentry classes fabricated more than 29 custom doors and viewing panels for the new gallery, set to open to the public on Mothers Day, Sunday, May 13 at 2:00 p.m.

James Russell, museum president, lauded the students’ work, noting “How great is it that much of what we admire in the museum’s collection was made by master craftsmen! Today, skilled students from Voc-Tech are back at the museum, helping to build exhibits that house these masterpieces – to be enjoyed by New Bedford residents and visitors for years to come.”

The museum’s staff, designers and carpenters worked with GNB Voc-Tech’s coordinator of construction projects, Robert Gomes, and carpentry teacher, Donald Derosiers, on the exacting specifications for the elaborate cabinetry required to exhibit hundreds of rare examples of scrimshaw – the 19th century shipboard art of whalers. Students utilized the school’s state-of-the-art CNC (computer numerical control) milling machinery to create the seamless doorframes and panels.

Master carpenter, Dana Costa, rebuilt and refitted existing museum cases and installed the Voc-Tech components with the assistance of Mark Leary and Korey Martin.

The exhibit opening caps the museum’s 23rd annual Scrimshaw Weekend, May 11-13, which attracts scrimshaw experts, collectors and fans from around the world. Titled Scrimshaw: Shipboard Art of the Whalers, the exhibit is curated Dr. Stuart M. Frank, Senior Curator, with the assistance of museum volunteers John Antones, Richard Donnelly, Michael Gerstein, Vasant Gideon, Judith Lund, Barbara Moss, Sanford Moss, Catherine Reynolds and James Vaccarino.

The largest permanent exhibit of its kind, Scrimshaw: Shipboard Art of the Whalers coincides with the launch of a major new book on scrimshaw, titled Ingenious Contrivances, Curiously Carved: Scrimshaw in the New Bedford Whaling Museum by Dr. Frank – a 400-page reference with more than 700 photographs by Richard Donnelly.

Admission to the Sunday opening of the scrimshaw exhibit and book launch: regular admission rates apply. In honor of Mother’s Day, mothers are admitted free when accompanied by at least one member of her family.

The use of ambergris is legal in many countries, but not in the U.S. Since it is a marine mammal product, its use is banned by the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972.  However, perfume products shipped into the U.S. from overseas may still have ambergris in them. Any one of us could find ambergris along the shore without ever seeing a whale. But, laws like the MMPA minimize the opportunity to create a larger market for such products, and perhaps illegal killing of marine mammals for those products.

Kids visit the New England Coastal Wildlife Alliance craft tables during Right Whale Day 2012.

The families arrived early and came in a steady stream between 10a – 2p yesterday for Right Whale Day.  They worked their way through the right whale obstacle course created by our High School Apprentices; created origami and whale tale necklaces with New England Coastal Wildlife staff and tried on the blubber glove to test the insulating capacity of whale blubber. They were greeted by Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society staff as they entered WDCS’s 48ft inflatable right whale and learned important right whale information from NOAA education staff.  Many stayed for some tasty cake topped with a frosted right whale. We wrapped up the day with a 2pm viewing of Ocean Frontiers: The Dawn of a New Era in Ocean Stewardship, a new documentary that highlights four innovative collaborations that have led to increased protection of our ocean resources.

We thank NECWA, WDCS, NOAA, our high school apprentices and WM docents and Facilities staff for their help in making yesterday’s festivities a success.

Young visitors try to 'swim' through the propeller strike obstacle safely.

Whale Alert screen view. Image provided by NOAA.

One of the hottest whale-related stories on the internet involves a new iPad and iPhone app that has been created to protect the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale.  NOAA has teamed up with a variety of partners to develop an application, available for free, that provides near real-time information about the location of NARWs within the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary and the shipping lanes of Boston. The application also provides information on conservation measures in the areas that the ships are transiting.

This a clever, well-thought method to protect a species with a population number hovering between 450-500 individuals. It makes excellent use of new technology and research to provide all necessary information to those who ply our coastal waters to make their living, it assists sanctuary managers in knowing the movements of whales within the sanctuary, and it does so at no cost to mariners.

The other hot story involves a potential substitute for the ambrein that is removed from ambergris. Ambrein is a prized compound for use in perfumes. That will be tomorrow’s blog.

Hot on the heels of its premiere last night at the New England Aquarium, the new movie Ocean Frontiers: The Dawn of a New Era in Ocean Stewardship, will be hosted by the New Bedford Whaling Museum in the Cook Memorial Theater on Monday afternoon, April 16, 2:00pm, as a fitting finale to a day of free activities focused on the North Atlantic Right Whale.  This film features four success stories of collaboration among seemingly disparate partners to protect our ocean resources.

Of the most interest to us here in Massachusetts, was the multi-year effort to get the shipping lanes in Boston Harbor shifted to lessen by 81% the likelihood that right whales would get hit by ships.  Led by Dr. David Wiley of the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, researchers, shippers, regulators and conservation organizations pulled together to protect this critically endangered species.  Staff from the SBNMS will be here as Right Whale Day participants, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the designation of the Sanctuary.  They will introduce the film at 2:00.

To borrow directly from the press release “From the troubled waters now rises a new wave of hope, of prosperity through preservation, playing out in communities across the country and intimately captured in the new film by Green Fire Productions, OCEAN FRONTIERS.” This 80 minute film is free to the general public.

For more information about the film or about Right Whale Day call Science Director Robert Rocha at (508) 717-6849 or email rrocha@whalingmuseum.org

A recent editorial in the journal Biological Conservation, in response to the Robards & Reeves report, has brought this issue back into focus.  This story in the New Zealand Herald shares the editorial by researchers from the Leigh Marine Laboratory and provides an update on the numbers from the January report. Unfortunately, the numbers are higher: 92 species consumed in 125 countries. Yes, the U.S. is on that list of countries.

An editorial published in yesterday’s OregonLive.com presents an introduction to both sides of this issue while encouraging the public to review and respond during the scoping period for the U.S. Navy’s Northwest Training and Testing Environmental Impact Statement/Overseas EIS.

We hope to see you on Thursday night. See our website for more details about this presentation and the complete roster for our Combined Speaker Series.

In keeping with this unintentional, but serendipitous, blog theme of sensory perception in marine creatures (My, What Big Eyes You Have – March 16 and Whale Sense of Smell- Feb 27), I’d like to share news of a recent study from the University of Hawaii. A specially trained false killer whale (Pseudorca crassidens) worked with researchers Dr. Paul Nachtigall and Ph.D. candidate Laura Kloepper to demonstrate the amount of detail these animals discern from signals sent and received via echolocation.  The fact that odontocetes use echolocation for hunting and navigating is old news.  This research adds to body of knowledge regarding the level of accuracy that can be processed from the sound waves received via their semi-hollow, oil filled mandibles . This BBC report, based  on the paper published in the Journal of Experimental Biology explains the experiment, the results and provides a video clip of this beautiful animal in action.