She Uncovered The Mystery Of Where These Century-Old Blue Whale Bones Came From
At the Natural History Museum, the cetacean collection contains the remains of more than 6,000 specimens of whales, dolphins, and their relatives.
Of the thousands of specimens in the collection, two blue whale vertebrae caught the eye of a researcher named Dr. Sophia Nicolov.
The labels attached to the vertebrae showed the scientific name of the blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus, along with a date and location: “Nov 6th 1924, Falkland Islands.”
The labels also mentioned the “Wembley Exhibition,” which Nicolov and her colleagues had never heard of before.
They quickly found out that it referred to a historic event known as the “British Empire Exhibition.” In 1924 and 1925, more than 27 million people visited it, making it one of the largest events ever.
Its primary goal was to project a strong and unified image of the British Empire during a period when its influence was beginning to wane.
Grand pavilions were erected around Wembley Park in London, showcasing the empire’s resources and industrial achievements.
“When I started looking into the Exhibition’s history, I couldn’t believe the scale of it,” said Nicolov. “Its links to the Natural History Museum, then a part of the British Museum, are particularly obscure. There doesn’t seem to be much contemporary knowledge about that, so I was determined to find out more—these [blue whale] vertebrae didn’t just appear out of a vacuum.”
To trace back the origins of the blue whale bones, Nicolov examined the records of what was on display at the British Empire Exhibition’s pavilions. She uncovered a series of photographs of the Falkland Islands Pavilion in the U.K.’s National Archives.
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The pavilion represented the islands as well as the Falkland Islands Dependencies, which included South Georgia and the South Shetlands. Back then, the region focused heavily on whaling.
Whales were highly sought after for their oils, which were used to lubricate machines and make soaps, margarine, and other products that helped the British Empire grow.
One of the biggest whaling businesses at the time was the Southern Whaling and Sealing Company. Many of its tools were displayed in the Falkland Islands Pavilion, including harpoon guns, hooks, and knives.
The pavilion also showed off the diversity of marine life in the Southern Oceans, such as a variety of whale remains. In the archival photos, it was clear that the two vertebrae were not among them.
However, Nicolov was able to confirm that they were at the exhibition. She discovered letters stating that the bones were collected from the museum by Percy Stammwitz, one of the museum’s taxidermists, on November 5, 1924.
This meant the vertebrae were indeed from the South Atlantic, but it still didn’t answer the question of where exactly the bones came from, as the ocean is incredibly vast.
A box of letters belonging to Sir Sidney Harmer, the director of what is now the Natural History Museum between 1919 and 1927, revealed that the bones came from one or two whales killed off South Georgia, which were taken back to the island for processing.
The vertebrae had remained on a beach in South Georgia for over a year before they were collected and sent to London for the exhibition.
Nicolov hopes that scientists can now use the vertebrae more often to investigate the effects of whaling. A three-dimensional scan of the vertebrae will also be produced to make them accessible to researchers all over the world.
Her findings have also inspired researchers to look into what other links there may be between the collections at the Natural History Museum and the British Empire Exhibition.
You can view more information from the Natural History Museum about the bones here.
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