Remnants of a whale

Some might wonder why bones are important. They don’t exactly give us an idea of the ‘live’ animal. Museums, the American Cetacean Society among others, place a high regard in the science of bones.

This photo which depicts the dorsal views of whale skulls (bottom to top): 1. bowhead whale, 2. humpback whale, 3. fin whale taken of Plate III In Recent Memoirs on the Cetacea, Eschricht, Reihardt and Lilljeborg, Ed. W.H. Flower, 1866, demonstrates the differences in the skull structures of these whale species. At first glance they look all the same, but they're not. Bones permit the investigation of structural differences among animals and in many cases, provides forensic evidence of how these animals behaved in their ‘live’ form, as no doubt some of you might have seen in the TV series entitled ‘Bones’.

In Davao City, Philippines, D'Bone Collector Museum has a collection of bones from different types of animals like whales, dolphins, turtles, sharks, and even some terrestrial animals like snakes and monkeys. This bone museum collects and preserves dead beached animals for educational purposes, i.e., to provide information and increase awareness of its public on the animals  found in Philippine waters, not to mention what is being lost of this aquatic biodiversity.


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