Honey & I had a lovely little walk to retrieve a piece of bone I discovered while walking the shore with my friend Bonnie last week. Heavy as... well, all get out. Andy thinks it might be a shoulder blade to the whale backbone my niece Emily found several weeks ago -- it was very close to where she found the spine. Andy had an exchange with a marine biologist, Andrew Hebda, at the Science Museum in Halifax. Here's what he had to say about the backbone (so far we haven't found a skull):
Hi Andy
Tricky to confirm to species, but, yes it is from a whale.
You have the cervical (neck) vertebrae (including the axis and Atlas ) - in cetaceans they are always fused together. If the bones are fairly solid (an adult individual), then it is most likely from a Pilot whale (blackfish / pothead). (I compared the image to the one we have in the collection). A bit big for dolphins, porpoises and Beluga.
If a head turns up, would be easy enough to confirm
Any idea as to when it beached? Might be able to track back through reported strandings in the area.
Cheers
Andrew
A Hebda
NSM Collections
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