Another whale skeleton on display at the Regional Museum of Natural History in Bhubaneswar. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, July 5: The skeleton of a large Baleen whale will be soon be displayed at the Regional Museum of Natural History here.

The remains of the 47.3-foot whale, which was found at Gopalpur on June 29, 2010, will be displayed here in a special glass case.

Museum sources said though the size of the whale was 47.3 feet at the time of discovery, its skeleton was found to be 46-foot long after de-fleshing.

“It has 43 vertebrae, seven cervical and 12 rib bones. It took us nearly one year to prepare the skeleton for preservation by chemical treatment,” said a senior official of the museum.

The authorities are likely to put the skeleton on display on August 10, the foundation day of the museum.

“We have completed almost all formalities, including display of literature, for putting the skeleton for public exhibition,” said the scientist in charge of the museum, G.N. Indresha.

The authorities are also planning to display the skeleton of a pangolin, which had been recovered from Berhampur forest division.

Earlier, the museum authorities had exhibited the skeleton of Shankar, a wild tusker. The skeleton of an African black rhino is also another major attraction for the visitors at the museum.

Over one lakh people visited the museum during 2010-11. From 26,979 visitors during 2005-06, the number has gone up to 1,35,908 during 2010-11.

Visitors seem to be curious about the skeleton of the gigantic whale.

“I have never seen a whale but the skeleton of it can describe its length. The sight of the huge elephant skeleton was a surprise for me and I am eagerly waiting for the unveiling of the whale skeleton at the museum,” said Dibakar Swain, a visitor to the museum from Keonjhar.

DECODING THE MAMMAL

Baleen whales, also called toothless whales, are one of two suborders of Cetacea (group of marine mammals that includes whales, dolphins, porpoises). They possess unique epidermal modifications of the mouth called baleen, which is used to filter food from water. They feed on smaller fish and plankton with a filtering system made up of hundreds of baleen plates suspended from the top of their mouth. They open their mouth and take in enormous amount of water. When the mouth is closed, they squeeze the water out through the sides, catching the tiny prey on the baleen’s bristles. And then with their tongue, they move the food from the baleen towards the back of their mouth for it to be swallowed. Blue whale, the largest mammal in the world, is a Baleen whale