Whale bone

Cold seeps are also areas of high hydrostatic pressure, rich in molhisks, particularly mytilids, which thrive on hydrogen sulfide from bacterial decomposition of sunken wood or whale bones (Distel 2000). 

Mammoth tusk (N.E. Siberia)6 Mastadon6 Sperm whale tooth Whale bone (rib)... 

Fig. 3. Gradient (4-20%) acrylamide gel of bone extracts from a fossil whale bone (10,000 years b.p.). Soluble extract (A) shows a range of molecular weights that are stained with Coomassie Brilliant Blue. The insoluble (in guanidine/EDTA) extract was heated in gel sample buffer at 100° for 30 min, and the buffer was removed. This insoluble extract also has a range of molecular weights that tend to be higher on average than the EDTA-soluble component. The soluble extract was digested with bacterial collagenase (B), and two products with molecular weights similar to albumin and osteonectin were revealed.

B.P.) Baffin Island, Canada, Early Wisconsin. Fossil bones and their expected ages, except the whale bone, were obtained from... 

C. Vance Haynes, Jr. of the University of Arizona at Tucson. The whale bone was obtained from Gifford Miller of the University of Colorado. The modern bones belong to an elephant that died in 1964 and was buried for six years prior to re-excavation. The elephant bones were obtained from Charles McNulty of the University of Texas at Arlington. 

The small amount of organic impurities coexisting with the separated collagen from Folsom bison and whale bone indicates that the method used is successful in these two cases. Both of the collagen fractions, HCl-insoluble and HCl-soluble, are pure and could be used safely for radiocarbon dating. This is reflected by the good agreement between the... 

Today catde bone is plentiful and fi eely obtainable, and sheep bone is also easily obtainable. In Afiica trinkets are sold that are made fix)m camel bone. Whale bone is no longer used as whales are now protected species. 

In the nineteenth century the whaling fleets of America and Europe produced carvings now known as scrimshaw . A lot of whale bone was used, as well as ivory. The huge pan bones from the toothed whales could be made into large, solid pieces of equipment such as meat hammers, or blocks and cleats for the ship s rigging. Because bone is less likely to warp than ivory, it was also made into more specialised equipment such as rulers and gauges. The smaller, finer and more decorative objects that were produced by the scrimshanders were more likely to be made of ivory than of bone, and were made for use in the home rather than on board ship. 

Chukotka s rugged coast is dotted with the remains of numerous historic and prehistoric settlements that are clearly discernible by their mount shaped house ruins and protruding whale bones. For centuries, the native population, subsiding mostly on a sea mammal and fish diet supplemented by land game and birds, has chosen semi-subterranean house constructions to protect them from the harsh winters and fierce Bering Sea storms. Whale bones, especially ribs, vertebrae, jawbones, and shoulder blades were used as central construction elements for the dug-in houses, which were cover with sod and driftwood. 

Having passed the first narrow, which is 14 leagues from Nombre de Jesus, we arrived at a bay of the Strait where there was a great quantity of whales bones, hugely large, for the whales enter the Strait to pair for the summer, then come to the coast and die. The natives thereabouts eat their flesh, and that of the seals, which is their ordinary food. From this... 

Sperm whale, Physeter macrocephalus] Alaska, 1965, bone vs. soft tissue ... 

Disorders similar to CHS in humans have been reported in beige mice, Aleutian mink, Hereford cattle and killer whales, and neutrophil dysfunctions similar to those reported in humans are apparent in these animals. Therapy of CHS in humans usually consists of careful management of infections with appropriate antibiotics, although improvements have been reported following administration of high doses of ascorbic acid. Bone-marrow transplantation offers some hope to these patients, especially those entering the accelerated phase of the disease. 

It turns out that most of these compounds have similar characteristics that contribute to their toxicity to both humans and other species of plants and animals. First, the compounds are environmentally persistent. Many of the early pesticides, and certainly the metals, do not break down in the environment or do so only very slowly. If persistent chemicals are released continually to the environment, the levels tend to rise ever higher. This means they are available to cause harm to other organisms, often not even the target of the pesticide. Second, the early pesticides were broad acting and toxic to many species, not just the target species. These poisons often killed beneficial insects or plants. Third, many of these compounds would bioaccumulate or concentrate in species as they moved up the food chain. The chlorinated pesticides accumulate in the fat of animals. Animals that consumed other animals accumulated more and more of these pesticides. Most species could not metabolize or break down the compounds. Lead accumulates in bone and methyl mercury in muscle. And finally, because of their persistence in the environment and accumulation in various species, the persistent toxicants spread around the world even to places that never used them. Animals at the top of the food chain, such as polar bears and beluga whales, routinely have fat PCB levels greater that 6 ppm. 

Whale hunters were interested in these huge animals for their meat and oil, but also for baleen. In the days before the invention of plastic, baleen was used to make objects that required flexibility and low density. Baleen was also called whalebone, even though it is not made of bone and does not come... 

Vertebrate animals may be preserved dry or in fluid. Traditional systematic species collections may include study skins, skeletons, and fluid-preserved animals or body parts. Study skins are, as the name implies, the skin of the animal with hair and feathers intact. In small animals, the bones are often left in place since it would be too difficult and damaging to remove them. In study skins, the eyes and mouth are usually filled with cotton, and the body is stuffed gently with either cotton or acid-free tissue in order to keep the skin extended to its original size and shape. Large animals, such as whales or elephants, require a great deal of preparation and storage space. Some researchers may keep only those parts that are relevant to their collections, like the skull or extremities. Soft tissue or stomach contents may be frozen or preserved in alcohol. 

The art of scrimshaw was actually started by European whalers, but quickly spread across the Atlantic and is now generally considered an American art. It came about because the men on the whaling vessels had a lot of time and little to occupy themselves with in between sightings and catches of whales, so they used the by-products of the whaling industry to pass the time. Marine ivory, bone and baleen could all be carved or etched and in some way decorated to make useful and attractive objects. 

Arctic ivory has always been looked upon by the local communities in parts of Canada, Alaska, Greenland and Siberia as more of a useful commodity, to be fashioned into utensils and weapons and even used as building materials. Three thousand years ago the Ancient Inuit used mostly walrus ivory, as walruses were much easier to catch than whales. Walrus ivory was also more plentiful than wood. The walrus was altogether an immensely useful animal, as it supplied meat, oil for heating from its blubber, hide for clothes or roofe, bone and ivory. It was only in the twentieth century, with the advent of more sophisticated hunting methods, that whale ivory became as much used as walrus ivory. 

Bone for carving can come from any number of sources. In times past even human skulls have been carved. The type of bone most usually used for decorative purposes probably came from cattle, while large items or scrimshaw were made of pan bone (part of the jaw bone), firom whales. 

After the first millennium the emphasis was on ecclesiastical objects, and these were most commonly made of ivory. However, there are examples of bone carvings, both from catde bone and whale pan bone. Some items were made of part ivory and part bone, which was by then considered a cheaper alternative, and was more easily obtainable. 

Rendering. The rendering process is applied on a large scale to the production of animal fats, such as tallow, lard, bone fat, and whale oil. The fatty tissues are chopped into small pieces and are boiled in steam digesters. The fat is gradually liberated from the cells and floats to the surface of the water, where it is collected by skimming. A similar method is used in the extraction of palm oil from fresh palm fruits. 

Lees, S. and Escoubes, M. (1987) Vapor pressure isotherms, composition and density of hyperdense bones of horse, whale and porpoise. Con. Tiss. Res., 16, 305-322. 

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