Charlie finds the whale vertebra on the beach






Charlie examines the whale vertebra






Taking a piece back to
the cabin for Biscuit
and Chico






Biscuit and Chico with
the vertebra

(Click on any Image to see a higher resolution version)

In early May, a whale washed up on the beach near the mouth of Kambalnoe River. I was surprised that only about a dozen bears were feeding on it when we got here in June. There seemed to be so much for them to eat at that time, the whale was not a huge attractant for them. Seeing bears on a whale carcass was an important thing I wanted to see here in Kamchatka. By the time I figured out how to photograph them on it the weather turned sour for a long time so when I got back again the bears were eating salmon instead.

The species is likely a Fin whale or perhaps a Blue unless some knowledgeable person looking at the web photos has a different idea. It was a mature male. Another one which looked similar washed up at the same time about twenty miles north. That one looked a bit smaller. I have no idea why whales die but it probably happened during the winter and could have had something to do with the sea ice. As far as I know Blue and Fin are the two largest species of whales. They are very fast swimmers and are the largest animals ever to have lived on earth.

I was very impressed with what I found when I landed on a lake across the grassy dunes. (Go to Web Entry August 3rd 1998 and click on the aerial photo showing the beach and tundra. That shows that same country if I remember correctly; little lakes where I landed and walked through the dunes on well worn trails made by bears who were feeding on it, to the beach where the skeleton was washed up). From the air, I could get no perspective on size. I hope these photos give you some impression of the magnitude of the beast.

The skull has a very long sharp bone projection which holds the nose or upper mouth part. The whole skull was about 15 feet long. The weight of one vertebra is 52 lbs. and almost floats. The disk part of it is 13 inches across and the vertebra fins are 44 inches across. So is the cockpit of my plane so I had to put one of the fins at the small of my back when I flew it home to show Chico and Biscuit. They were very impressed as you can well imagine. The photo of them with it makes them look like cubs of the year once again.

-Charlie