The 165 bones of a California gray whale are slowly being reassembled for a new Kodiak museum in Alaska set to open next year. The whale's journey has been a long one. The 38-foot animal washed up on a beach more than five years ago in Pasagshak on Kodiak Island's northeast side.

No one knows why the male whale died which was estimated to be no more than 10 years old. How to preserve the whale was the first obstacle but the organizers prepared a 40-foot long trench, 10 feet deep. The whale stayed underground for four years and when it was dug up, it was virtually free of tons of blubber and intact for preservation. The bones were then hauled in truckloads to the National Marine Fishery Service for cleaning and storage before being taken to the Fisheries Science Centre.

The last phase of the project will about six months, in time for the opening next summer of the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Centre. The whale bones, surprisingly light to pick up, are at the moment stretched along the floor of the science centre and on top of tables and shelves. They are being fitted together with steel rods. At one time, gray whales were near extinction but their figures are still reasonably small with only an estimated 20,000 grays in oceans today.

Image: © James Dorsey