1. Did you know? Whales’ flippers, or pectoral fins, share bone structure with the human arm and hand. In fact, the bones of cetacean flippers are the same kinds of bones as in the human arm, with an upper arm bone, two forearm bones, and hand, wrist, and finger bones. In whales, fingers are elongated and may have additional bones.Read more on whales’ amazing adaptations here. 

    Did you know? Whales’ flippers, or pectoral fins, share bone structure with the human arm and hand. 

    In fact, the bones of cetacean flippers are the same kinds of bones as in the human arm, with an upper arm bone, two forearm bones, and hand, wrist, and finger bones. In whales, fingers are elongated and may have additional bones.

    Read more on whales’ amazing adaptations here. 

  2. In 2001, the Museum’s famous blue whale model did not look as it does today. First constructed in the mid-1960s, the model was based on photographs of a female blue whale that had been found dead in 1925. At the time, little was known about what blue whales looked like in the wild. By the time the Hall of Ocean Life closed for renovation in 2002, Museum artists had many photographs and footage of live whales on which to base their work. They flattened the model’s once-overly bulging eyes, accurately redesigned the whale’s blowholes, and tapered the tail. Using about 25 gallons of cobalt and cerulean blue paint, the team also recolored and respotted the grayish blue whale.  When the Irma and Paul Milstein Hall of Ocean Life reopened in 2003, the newly renovated gallery was transformed. Come celebrate the 10th anniversary of this beloved hall on Sunday, May 19, at the family-friendly Milstein Science Series: Whales.

    In 2001, the Museum’s famous blue whale model did not look as it does today. First constructed in the mid-1960s, the model was based on photographs of a female blue whale that had been found dead in 1925. At the time, little was known about what blue whales looked like in the wild.

    By the time the Hall of Ocean Life closed for renovation in 2002, Museum artists had many photographs and footage of live whales on which to base their work. They flattened the model’s once-overly bulging eyes, accurately redesigned the whale’s blowholes, and tapered the tail. Using about 25 gallons of cobalt and cerulean blue paint, the team also recolored and respotted the grayish blue whale. 

    When the Irma and Paul Milstein Hall of Ocean Life reopened in 2003, the newly renovated gallery was transformed. Come celebrate the 10th anniversary of this beloved hall on Sunday, May 19, at the family-friendly Milstein Science Series: Whales.

  3. Arctic waters are home to many amazing animal species, including such whales as narwhals, belugas, and graceful bowheads. Today, researchers are using the travels and travails of these still-mysterious Arctic whales to illuminate the changing nature of Arctic sea ice as Earth warms.  On Thursday, May 30, join a bevy of explorers and researchers at the Museum for a special World Science Festival event: How Whales are Unlocking Arctic Secrets. Image: Laura Morse/Courtesy of NOAA

    Arctic waters are home to many amazing animal species, including such whales as narwhals, belugas, and graceful bowheads. Today, researchers are using the travels and travails of these still-mysterious Arctic whales to illuminate the changing nature of Arctic sea ice as Earth warms. 

    On Thursday, May 30, join a bevy of explorers and researchers at the Museum for a special World Science Festival event: How Whales are Unlocking Arctic Secrets.

    Image: Laura Morse/Courtesy of NOAA

  4. A sperm whale’s head is actually an oversized nose (which in mature males can make up a third of the animal’s body!). Sperm whales use their uniquely shaped nose to generate sound. Here’s how. © AMNH/5W Infographics

    A sperm whale’s head is actually an oversized nose (which in mature males can make up a third of the animal’s body!). Sperm whales use their uniquely shaped nose to generate sound. Here’s how.

    © AMNH/5W Infographics

  5. Unlike fish, which swim by moving their tails side to side, whales and dolphins move their flukes up and down. Sperm whale flukes are the largest, relative to body size, of any whale. (via Sperm Whales’ Amazing Adaptations)

    Unlike fish, which swim by moving their tails side to side, whales and dolphins move their flukes up and down. Sperm whale flukes are the largest, relative to body size, of any whale.

    (via Sperm Whales’ Amazing Adaptations)

  6. More than a century old, this Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw feast dish depicts a killer whale with a human head and a second human head within its dorsal fin. The human is Siwidi, a mythic hero who travels undersea in a canoe that transforms into a killer whale.

    See it in Whales: Giants of the Deep. 

    © AMNH/D. Finnin

  7. It’s here!  Whales: Giants of the Deep opens today.

    It’s here!  Whales: Giants of the Deep opens today.

  8. Twenty-five years ago, Museum curators, including John Flynn, Frick Curator of Fossil Mammals, found fossil whale bones 6,000 feet above sea level in the Andes Mountains of southern Chile.

    Flynn is an authority on the evolution of mammals, including many now-extinct land mammals in South America, and the Museum curator of Whales: Giants of the Deep. We recently spoke with Dr. Flynn about the exhibition, his fieldwork in South America, and his sightings of whales in the wild. Check out the Q&A here.

  9. Whales are on the way…Just two more days until Whales: Giants of the Deep! 

    Whales are on the way…Just two more days until Whales: Giants of the Deep! 

  10. Today’s peek into the archives is all about whales: A common finback whale skeleton from Provincetown, MA on display in 1906.For more photos from the archives, explore the Picturing the Museum collection.(c) AMNH Library/31615

    Today’s peek into the archives is all about whales: A common finback whale skeleton from Provincetown, MA on display in 1906.

    For more photos from the archives, explore the Picturing the Museum collection.

    (c) AMNH Library/31615