Whale Ambassadors
During April, a gray whale washed up on the east side of Vashon Island and it was decided to leave the whale on the shore to decompose naturally. To study the decomposition process, we installed motion-sensing wildlife cameras to document visits from scavengers. Cameras recorded a coyote tearing off parts of blubber, a curious mouse scurrying up to the whale for a meal, and a blue heron taking advantage of the protected pool formed behind the whale’s body to hunt for fish. Check out our youtube playlist here for these and other whale cam videos. We also received permission from NOAA to collect the whale’s bones with the hope to articulate the skeleton and display it somewhere on the island.
To accomplish this, we hope to involve many of you! We are seeking Whale Ambassadors, volunteers to assist with daily checks on the whale, and individuals who can help with bone collection and storage. We’re seeking volunteers for three different roles:
1.Weekly Whalecam Checkers: These volunteers will be responsible for visiting the whale site on Mondays and Thursdays. Duties include swapping out SD cards and batteries for the monitoring equipment. THIS JOB IS COMPLETE.
2. Daily Visits: Volunteers will take shifts to visit the whale every Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Tasks involve photographing the decomposition process, collecting bones, and ensuring respectful behavior from other visitors. THIS JOB IS COMPLETE.
3. Cleaning, cataloguing, articulation, and moving of bones: Help VNC scientists and VISD students prepare the whale for educational display. You will be put on a mailing list and notified when we need help moving, cleaning, scanning, photographing, drawing, measuring, weighing, and putting together the bones.
We welcome assistance from anyone and are particularly looking for engineers, metal workers, and those with expertise in whales and articulation, as well as anyone with extra storage space. If you are interested or have any questions please contact Taylor Umetsu at taylor@vashonnaturecenter.org