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WHALES

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Gray Whale Project Migrates to San Francisco

Story by Tracie Hornung, photo by Robin Jacobson

The bones of Stinky Willy are used by Curator Albert Shepard (left) to teach a class in the Gray Whale Project to a visiting school group at The Whale Museum

Stinky Willy, The Whale Museum's 26-foot gray whale skeleton, is featured this week in workshops on whales at the Bay Area Discovery Museum, the Marine Mammal Center and several San Francisco schools.

Albert Shepard, curator of The Whale Museum, will teach the workshops as part of the museum's Gray Whale Project. Stinky Willy, the actual skeleton of a yearling gray whale, will be used as a learning tool. The dead whale from which the skeleton originated was collected in the summer of 1995 from a beach in Eastsound by museum staff.

"It took about nine months for the cleaning process and we had a lot of help from islanders, especially students," he said. "We've built the skeleton over 65 times with various groups and we're excited to expand our presentation to other communities along the migration route of the whales."

Funding for the Gray Whale Project trip to San Francisco is provided by the Bay Area Discovery Museum. Transportation is provided by Clark Casebolt of Outdoor Odysseys, San Juan Island.

For more information about the Gray Whale Project, visit The Whale Museum's Web site.

Museum curator gives a whale of a presentation

posted 01/30/02
Two hundred Texas children had a chance to learn about whales when Albert Shepard, curator of The Whale Museum, visited their school recently.

Shepard worked with several fourth grade classes at Kruse Elementary School in Pasadena, Texas, over three days in mid January. The workshops covered a variety of topics including mammalian characteristics, migration, drawing and taxonomy.


On the last day, all of the children gathered together for a final assembly and to inflate a model 48-foot fin whale from The Whale Museum.

While in Texas, Shepard also gave a brief whale presentation to 60 students at Edgar Allen Poe Elementary School in Houston.

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