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--089e0168133efb376604fe2bdd98 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 I got one of those calls late last week, one a zoologist craves. "Do you want to help with the Fin Whale necropsy?" Of course the answer was "yes!" So, on Saturday, I joined folks from the Marine Animal Response Society ( https://www.facebook.com/marineanimalresponsesociety?fref=ts) and helped take apart the 17 m male Fin Whale on the shore of Janvrins Island, Richmond County. Anatomically, it was just a great experience to work with something so large...my previous experience with animals of this size are one Minke (near Canso) and two 11 m Sperm Whales (locally). The internal organs were ... beyond prime. The bones, a particular passion of mine, were great. Gulls and other vertebrate scavengers were notably absent, perhaps the state of decay was beyond even their tastes. There were thousands of blow flies (I'm guessing at the Green Bottle Fly [ http://bugguide.net/node/view/877020]), and thousands upon thousands of maggots already working the carcass. There were also hundreds of Red-lined Carrion Beetle (*Necrodes surinamensis*) <http://bugguide.net/node/view/6742>, the only carrion beetle (or any beetle) I noticed. One was collected...and as is often the case, on the label for this insect will be the microhabitat (Fin Whale carcass)...I just think that's really cool! And through then entire five hours I was there, the nearby Yellow Warblers were quite upbeat about the whole thing, singing the whole time. Perhaps the plethora of insects was very much to their liking! Randy (Who apologizes for the cryptic subject line, but every once in a while, I have to do something like that!) _________________________________ RF Lauff Way in the boonies of Antigonish County, NS. --089e0168133efb376604fe2bdd98 Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <div dir=3D"ltr">I got one of those calls late last week, one a zoologist c= raves. "Do you want to help with the Fin Whale necropsy?" Of cour= se the answer was "yes!" So, on Saturday, I joined folks from the= Marine Animal Response Society (<a href=3D"https://www.facebook.com/marine= animalresponsesociety?fref=3Dts">https://www.facebook.com/marineanimalrespo= nsesociety?fref=3Dts</a>) and helped take apart the 17 m male Fin Whale on = the shore of Janvrins Island, Richmond County.<div> <br></div><div>Anatomically, it was just a great experience to work with so= mething so large...my previous experience with animals of this size are one= Minke (near Canso) and two 11 m Sperm Whales (locally). The internal organ= s were ... beyond prime. The bones, a particular passion of mine, were grea= t. Gulls and other vertebrate scavengers were notably absent, perhaps the s= tate of decay was beyond even their tastes.</div> <div><br></div><div>There were thousands of blow flies (I'm guessing at= the Green Bottle Fly [<a href=3D"http://bugguide.net/node/view/877020]">ht= tp://bugguide.net/node/view/877020]</a>), and thousands upon thousands of m= aggots already working the carcass. There were also hundreds of=C2=A0<a hre= f=3D"http://bugguide.net/node/view/6742" title=3D"Species" style=3D"color:r= gb(51,51,102);font-family:verdana,arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:12px= ">Red-lined=C2=A0Carrion=C2=A0Beetle=C2=A0(<i>Necrodes=C2=A0surinamensis</i= >)</a>, the only carrion beetle (or any beetle) I noticed. One was collecte= d...and as is often the case, on the label for this insect will be the micr= ohabitat (Fin Whale carcass)...I just think that's really cool!</div> <div><br></div><div>And through then entire five hours I was there, the nea= rby Yellow Warblers were quite upbeat about the whole thing, singing the wh= ole time. Perhaps the plethora of insects was very much to their liking!</d= iv> <div><br></div><div>Randy</div><div>(Who apologizes for the cryptic subject= line, but every once in a while, I have to do something like that!)</div><= div><br></div><div><div>_________________________________<br>RF Lauff<br> Way in the boonies of<br>Antigonish County, NS.</div> </div></div> --089e0168133efb376604fe2bdd98--
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