As ambassadors of the eastern Pacific, they represent a connection between the thousands of communities along the coast. The whales' popularity is also a unique opportunity for environmental awareness through science-based education. Among the Project's educational activities is the articulation of a real gray whale skeleton. The secret of this particular animal begins to unveil itself as construction is completed. Efforts to complete the skeleton stimulate discussion of other topics such as comparative anatomy, marine conservation, museum techniques, mythology, environmental ethics, whaling and more.
Whales are impressive and fascinating animals for students to study.
For educators, whales can provide an underlying theme for the integration of whale biology with more general scientific concepts such as comparative anatomy, food webs, invertebrate biology, science technology, and oceanography. Wash. Albert Shepard, curator of The Whale Museum, led the effort to salvage and clean the bones. The body of a young gray whale was found on Orcas Island in 1995. The carcass was towed to a remote beach to decompose after biological samples were taken. Since its initial collection, the skeleton has taken hundreds of hours of effort to bring to the present stage.