China News Service, December 9th (Reporter Zheng Yingying) The fin whale that died stranded in Shanghai more than four years ago "returned."

After more than 4 years, it was made into a bone specimen about 24 meters long and weighing about 3 tons. It was unveiled at the Shanghai Natural History Museum (Shanghai Science and Technology Museum Branch) on the 9th.

　　In March 2017, the carcass of a fin whale was found in the waters of Shanghai.

Subsequently, the specimen production team of the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum arrived at the scene and made specimens.

The production of a large bone specimen requires a series of specimen production processes such as dissection, meat removal, degreasing, splicing, and mounting.

Because of the huge size of this fin whale, the preparation of its specimen took more than 4 years to complete.

On December 9, fin whale bone specimens were presented at the Shanghai Natural History Museum for final assembly.

Photo by Tang Yanjun

　　In the beginning, the specimen preparation experts completed the decomposition of the 24 meters long and 40 tons fin whale through 18 days of hard work.

Ruan Minjie, a specimen maker at the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum, still remembers that it was March and the temperature in Shanghai was quite high. The corrosive odor of the fin whale carcass at the scene was very heavy, and the staff needed to wear gas masks to work at first.

　　Then, after three and a half years of cleaning and degreasing of fin whale bones, and nearly three months of external racking, this fin whale bone specimen was transported to the Shanghai Natural History Museum on the evening of December 5 this year for on-site assembly.

According to reports, the most difficult point of its installation is that all structural connectors must be specially customized to match each bone.

On December 9, fin whale bone specimens were presented at the Shanghai Natural History Museum for final assembly.

Photo by Tang Yanjun

　　In addition, when the fin whale was discovered that year, the left flipper was missing and the left mandible was damaged. Now the bilateral flippers and mandible bones are replaced with models to avoid the danger of imbalanced bilateral weights.

In order to better display the effect, the production team used oil painting color to cover the yellowed part of the skeleton.

　　After assembly, the specimen of this fin whale will be exhibited in the Shanghai Natural History Museum to continue its existence in another form.

On December 9, fin whale bone specimens were presented at the Shanghai Natural History Museum for final assembly.

Photo by Tang Yanjun

　　It is reported that this is not the first time that a stranded whale has been made into specimens in Shanghai.

According to reports, in 2009, a Brinell whale that was about 10 meters long and weighed about 10 tons ran aground in Chongming, Shanghai. It was also made into a specimen and is now on display in the Shanghai Natural History Museum.

The length of this fin whale skeleton specimen is about twice the length of the previous Brinell whale specimen.

(Finish)