How Do You Autopsy a Whale?Michael Moore, a veterinarian and whale biologist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, displays the contents of his portable whale necropsy kit. The note on the box lid says "Dear TSA: This case contains equipment for examining dead whales for NOAA (Dept. of Commerce). Knives, hooks, sharpeners, sample containers, saw, tapes, face protection."
Moore uses a Japanese whaling hook, which is useful for pulling back sheets of blubber to get at the animal's internal organs. He carries a bone saw -- formerly his mother's -- to get through jaws and vertebrae to find the location of a fatal injury.
rotting sea mammal is the worst kind of stink i have ever experienced. it takes a team to hold the blubber away from the guts and someone always looses there nerve or lunch. I was a strong back and weak mind at these events. had to burn several uniforms. the saddest one was mother and calf beached the mother had a broken jaw from a propeller strike.
Which is probably why this guy, who has to smell it all the time, is pissed that the TSA keeps taking his C4.
Check out channel4's series Inside Nature's Giants, and in particular the episode on the whale