Members of the general public will get their first glimpse of the skeleton of the Thames whale on Friday 6 October at the Natural History Museum as images of the animal will accompany a talk by Richard Sabin, curator of the museum's mammal collection. Most people will remember the female, juvenile Northern bottlenose whale that was discovered swimming in the Thames in central London on 20 January 2006.

Liz Sandeman Director of Operations certainly does remember and reports “On the morning of the 20 January, I received a call from Alan Knight, one of the Marine Connection's trustee's and also Director of BDMLR asking for my assistance. The whale had been sighted at Westminster Bridge and would I accompany the RNLI to assess the animal's health and confirm the species? I jumped at the opportunity! As it was early morning and the media had not been informed by then, I enjoyed some quiet time observing the animal. It was very strange seeing such a large creature in the Thames but at that time she looked reasonably healthy, relaxed and breathing normally although she struggled slightly against the strong currents as she made her way upriver. Not being able to communicate with a whale, I felt all the more frustrated as she continued firmly heading in the wrong direction. I couldn't know that, 30 hours later, the whale would be dead.”

The whale died the following evening as rescuers transported her on a barge towards deeper water in the Thames Estuary after being placed in a special pontoon near Battersea Bridge. It was later confirmed that the 16ft cetacean, who was about 11 years old, died from a combination of problems, including dehydration, muscle damage and failing kidneys. The museum says it has not yet decided when the skeleton itself will go on public display but are looking at ideas for how they can exhibit the skeleton.

Talk details:
Friday 6 October - 2:30pm
Saturday 7 October - 12:00 noon and 2:30pm
Location: Natural History Museum, London
Nearest tube: South Kensington

Further images and information about the whale can be found here

The talks can also be heard as a webcast - please click here

Image: © Marine Connection