Dr. Debbie Duffield, Director of the Marine Mammal Stranding Network and Professor of Biology at Portland State, salvaged the carcass and orchestrated the monumental task of cleaning its skeleton. Federal law prohibits commerce both of endangered species and of marine mammals. Thus, such a specimen could not be purchased at any price. The Vertebrate Museum includes countless treasures that have taken generations to accrue. While no single specimen can be considered to overshadow all others, our new whale skeleton is certainly one of the most spectacular specimens we have, both because of its size and because it is the only whale skeleton New Mexicans are likely ever to see.
Collectors have some, but most no longer exist.
For most of us at the time, the face value of a nickel outweighed its potential worth as a collector's item sometime in the distant future. Yet someone with vision must preserve our history. The people who devoted a day or more of their lives a century ago to stuff a golden eagle for the Vertebrate Museum selflessly ensured that future generations would be able to look one face to face. Today, eagles are rare and can no longer be collected. Many other species collected a century ago are even rarer than eagles now.