There may be over four hundred plates on each side, each some seventy centimetres long. These plates are on the upper jaws only. The lower jaws are bowed outwards, and are joined together by ligaments at their front ends, to give some flexibility of movement. The throats of whalebone whales are grooved, longitudinally, indicating the presence of pleats that allow an enormous expansion of the throat cavity when water is taken in. The mouth, itself, can be opened very wide and, together with the expansion of the throat, tonnes of water are strained through the baleen every time the animal takes a mouthful.
Finbacks become sexually mature at around ten to thirteen years old.
Calves are born after an eleven-month period of gestation, and are suckled for about six months. At birth a Finback Whale calf weighs a mere 1.8 tonnes, and is around 6.5 metres long. It is our hope that the skeleton will make its point to future generations of undergraduates and public visitors alike. Many species of whale, including the Finback, are regarded as endangered. It is important that, regardless of their academic subject, future administrators, policy makers and leaders of educated opinion should become aware of what we stand to lose as a result of unrestricted whaling and of the consequences of failure in international co-operation in this field.