Cornwall is the epicenter of English surfing. There are breaks aplenty, from high-performance Fistral to beginner friendly Towan, as well as the thriving surf town of Newquay. However, the latest development on the Cornish coast took place not in the waves, but underground. A two-ton whale skull was just excavated there, five years after it was buried by scientists.
The skull was first interred in 2020, after a 65-foot blue whale was stranded in Parbean Cove at the mouth of the Helford River. Despite attempts by locals to rescue the creature, the whale died.
At the time, it was decided that part of the animal’s body would be kept in order to display as a memorial. To that end, the skull was buried on the grounds of the University of Exeter’s Cornwall campus in Penryn. As University of Exeter Ecology and Conservation professor Robbie McDonald told the BBC, this was the most natural method of cleaning the bones for study and display.
“Hopefully we can learn something about the marine environment that it came from, but ultimately it will be a nice thing for people of Cornwall to remember this animal,” he told the outlet.
Disinterring the head was a 10-hour procedure that presented itself with a number of logistical considerations. An industrial vacuum was used to remove soil from around the head without damaging it. Then came the task of actually lifting the bones without breaking them – a tall order for such a massive specimen.
In the end, the operation was successful, leaving us with what McDonald called a “gargantuan reminder of what we can do to improve the marine environment.”
