A beached whale
Kellyanne was out of school, and we were going to meet Doreen, Sue, and Liz at the beach for a walk. As we got to our meeting place, the beginning of the bike trail at Warner and PCH, we could see there was heavy equipment working, so I went back to get my camera from the car. As we got closer, we could see something large that had been pulled up above the high water mark. At that size, it could only be one thing - a whale.
a big hole
As we got closer we could see they already had a good start on a hole that would make my boys envious. Their favorite pastime at the beach is to dig holes as big and deep as they can before the lifeguards come and make them fill them in. This put their best efforts to shame. (Make a mental note how far the edge of the hole is from the animal's head at this point) As we got closer, though, Kellyanne demonstrated a vocabulary I didn't know she had - I didn't know she knew the word stench. We were downwind, and that needed to change.
Upwind view
We quickly moved upwind. This whale had not beached itself and then died. It had obviously been dead for quite a while before washing up on Bolsa Chica State beach, and it had started to decompose quite nicely. As Emeril says, I wish you had smell-o-vision, so you could get the entire experience. You could see the marks made by the machines as they had drug the carcass up from the water line to a spot high enough on the beach that they could make a hole big enough and deep enough to bury it.
closeup
The smell may have been better upwind, but it wasn't any prettier. We weren't sure what kind of whale it was. It didn't look like a gray whale, the most common off our coast. It looked the most like pictures we had seen of blue whales, and they do occasionally spot blue whales off the Orange County coast. We later learned from a lifeguard that it was a fin whale, which is closely related to, and often confused with, the blue whale. You can see the baleen plates in its mouth in this closeup, and the throat grooves or pleats on its underside, as it is upside down here. These pleats expand as the whale fills its mouth and throat with large quantities of water that it then strains out through its baleen plates, capturing the tiny krill or fish and discarding all that water. Reminds me a little of a pelican's pouch.
Interlude
We had come for a walk, so we headed off. The hole wasn't anywhere near big enough yet for such a large animal, so we figured we'd check in after our walk.
An hour later
An hour and 3 or 3-1/2 miles later, we found a bigger hole. Remember how far the head was from the hole in the earlier picture? Notice how much they have enlarged the hole now. They have not moved the head. They have made the hole that much bigger. At this point there was a lifeguard present, and he told us that it was a 47-foot long Fin whale. I later found that the Fin whale is the second largest whale. Only the blue whale is larger. They can grow to 88 feet long, but the average adult is about 65 feet. They are 20 feet long at birth and grow to about 35 feet by one year of age, so this 47 footer would have been a juvenile. They are found in all the oceans of the earth, but mostly in temperate or polar waters, not so often in the tropics. (That's your whale trivia for today.)
Another Closeup
They did not move the head, which you can see is pretty much in the same position as the previous closeup. They did, however, have to move the tail to get the equipment over to work on the other side of the hole. As you can see, it appears there is some damage to the abdominal area from the moving.
Graphic pictures
You can see down in the hole that the abdominal contents have been separated somehow from the rest of the whale. One of the bystanders said that they had cut the whale open, however the lifeguard said that it was not intentional. Just that the body was so decomposed and fragile that when they moved it to be able to reach the other side it had broken open.
Even more graphic
I debated putting this picture in, as I'm sure many woud rather not see it, but if I'm documenting this event, this is part of it, and there might be a 10-year-old boy who would like to see it.
still a ways to go
We were thinking that this hole must be getting close to being ready, but a state parks department employee said that they had to dig down to the water table, to make sure they were as deep as they possibly could go, so it was going to be a while longer. A bystander wanted to know if there were many animals buried there, and the lifeguard said, yes, they're all over here. That grossed out the bystander. The guard explained that the smaller animals, like sea lions or dolphins, they don't bury as deep as a whale. They don't call in the heavy equipment for them. They might even dig the hole by hand, or with a small bobcat, so they would do that closer to the water line, but something this big they have to go as deep as possible, and they want to get to the water table so it will decompose faster and not stink (or make a stench in Kellyanne's words).
Interlude II
Kellyanne said this was "boring" and was begging to leave. (I'll take that as a sign she's probably not going to be a scientist when she grows up.) She had plans to go to Jack-in-the-Box over by the parking lot (she had brought her own money so I coudn't tell her no). They had just started to reach damp sand, but it seemed like it was going to be a while, so we (I) reluctantly left, figuring our excitement was over.
The final act
After our break at Jack-In-the-Box, I decided to go back for one last look. Kellyanne said it stunk too bad and was "boring" (that word again), so she asked if she could wait in the car. As I got close, I could hear that the equipment was quiet. I was afraid I had missed it, but I could then see that I was just in time. Unfortunately I had to stay downwind. They looked ready to go and I was afraid if I tried to move over to the other side I would miss it. Besides, the crowd was much thinner on this side (imagine that!) and I had a better view than I probably could have gotten upwind. While we were gone they had finished the hole and stretched the body out to its full length along the edge of the hole. It really did look bigger when it wasn't curled up like it had been. If you would like to see the movie of them pushing it over the edge, click on "view movie" and use your back button to get back to this spot to rejoin the commentary.
final resting place
As you can see, they had reached the water table. That is water, not blood in the bottom of the hole. You can see it is a quite large and deep hole, bearing in mind that the whale is 47 feet long.
Epilogue
The beach was empty again. All that was left was to fill in that humongous hole. I figured the hole had to be over 50 feet long (to accomodate a 47-foot whale, and it looked to be 20 to 25 feet wide and close to 20 ft deep, by my rough estimate (eat your heart out boys - you'll never come close).
Final view
With Kellyanne back in the car, and the excitement over, I figured I better get on with my day. As you can see, there were plenty of people who were going to stick it out a while longer. (all those little boys who love earth moving equipment, for sure).
