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A Challenging Puzzle

By “Awake!” correspondent in Venezuela

DO YOU find puzzles challenging? What about a puzzle weighing over 1,300 pounds and some of its pieces being up to 7 feet long? That would be a ‘whale of a puzzle,’ wouldn’t it? Well, that’s what this puzzle is, a whale skeleton!

Not long ago, on the island of Margarita, in Venezuela, I talked to a professor who had put together and mounted a whale skeleton. It was quite a challenge.

He realized that many students who study marine life at the University del Oriente in Margarita would benefit from examining the mounted specimen. So he took on the challenge.

At the time of his decision the whale was still on the shores of the island of Cubagua, where some humble fishermen had reported seeing it some ten years earlier. Now they generously offered to challenge the seas in their small fishing boats to make the many trips necessary to bring the huge skeleton to the university.

The fishermen brought their load and deposited it with care at the Center of Scientific Investigations. The bones were not placed in any special order. Just one big stack of bones! Now the professor had a real puzzle on his hands!

Cleaning the bones was the immediate task at hand. The sun and earth had done much toward the decaying of the body. In spite of that, the bones were still far from being clean and white.

So for nearly two months they labored, scrubbing and scrubbing. Nothing would loosen the fat that still clung to the bone​—no cleanser, bleach nor detergent. Finally someone hit upon the idea of trying an oven cleaner.

The professor tried it and, lo and behold, it worked! With that the cleaning was soon finished, and they moved on to the assembling.

Here the wisdom of the Creator, Jehovah God, could be clearly seen. No two pieces were exactly alike. This feature proved to be an immense aid to the workers, and in no place was it appreciated more than in the spinal column.

Between each vertebra there is a disk. The face on that disk will fit only one vertebra, the one with a matching face. While arranging the vertebrae they found that some just did not seem to match any disk. This led to the conclusion that there had to be more vertebrae. Sure enough, an expedition to the island uncovered more vertebrae.

For the actual attaching of the bones one to another, they were transferred to a garage. There the head, ribs and smaller bones were attached with bronze screws.

As to the vertebrae, these were connected by a steel rod. A hole was drilled through the center of each vertebra and disk and into the head. The rod was then passed through the spinal column and into the head. The length of this tail bone can be appreciated by the fact that, assembled, it stretched the length of the garage, out the door and over the sidewalk! Imagine the surprise of a casual passerby to find his way obstructed by the tailbone of a whale!

The cranium is very heavy, weighing nearly a fourth of the total weight of the whale. On the first effort at mounting it, the frame bent. By repositioning the head for better balance and choosing a new point for the main support, they were able to use the same frame.

Standing back for a good look at his puzzle, finished and mounted, the professor found every reason to be glad he had accepted the challenge. But, what was to become of it?

The idea of a marine museum had long been growing in the mind of this and other professors at the university. Now they certainly had the basis for one. So, why not make the effort?

As the project began to take on form it also took on momentum. Individuals who saw the educational benefits involved began to bring in donations. They brought corals, shells, anchors, crustaceans​—anything that had to do with the sea. Specimens of the fish found along the coast of Margarita, algae, photographs showing how they raise oysters and mussels, skeletons of the shark and the dolphin are among the other items to be examined there.

Of course, the whale occupies its own honorable position. Soon the bones will be smooth and white, as they are being polished by a small hand polishing machine and then they will be sprayed with a clear plastic varnish in order to preserve them.

And so it is today that, because someone was willing to accept a challenge, the Museum of the Sea at the Center of Scientific Investigations of the University del Oriente on the island of Margarita was born.