Whale of a project to preserve mammal found dead off Tg Pagar

The dead baleen whale that surfaced off Tanjong Pagar earlier in September had most likely been struck by a ship, scientists have found.

- Ang Qing

Dr Marcus Chua (right), curator of mammals at the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, carrying the mandible of the whale with Mr Foo Maosheng, curator of Cryogenic Collection & Insecta, away for storage during a site visit at Singapore Salvage Engineers' shipyard in Tuas on Sept 26. ST PHOTOS: LIM YAOHUI Mr Foo demonstrating the defleshing of the baleen whale carcass during the site visit. Dr Chua said it was a challenge to remove the flesh as the blubber was 'really soft, really elastic, and hard to cut through'. A cleaned and degreased hyoid bone from the baleen whale carcass. The oil content in whale bones makes up to 40 per cent of the bone. This acts as energy reserves during periods of scarce food, and helps whales float.

(ST PHOTOS: LIM YAOHUI)

Dr Marcus Chua, who is helming the operation to study and preserve the whale, said the incomplete specimen’s injuries suggest that it was hit by a fast-moving vessel, one of the common threats that whales face worldwide.

“So, about halfway along its body behind the ribs, it is broken really cleanly, and this is the sign of blunt impact possibly by a ship,” said Dr Chua, the curator of mammals at the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum at the National University of Singapore.

“Some of the bones behind the head, the neck bones and the shoulders were also shattered.”

He revealed the findings to the media on Sept 26 at the Singapore Salvage Engineers’ (SSE) shipyard in Tuas, where the putrid carcass had been towed for processing on a barge.

Although it is unclear if the collision had caused the whale’s death, the animal was likely to have been dead for at least one to two weeks by the time it drifted to Singapore, said Dr Chua.