Carcass of giant blue whale brought to surface for study

PORTLAND — The carcass of a giant blue whale that has been submerged off the Oregon coast for over three years was hauled to the surface so it can be reassembled, studied and put on public display, scientists with Oregon State University said Friday.

The dead whale, which was about as long as two school buses, washed ashore near Gold Beach, Ore., in 2015.

It’s exceptionally rare to see an intact blue whale carcass wash ashore. The only other documented case happened more than 200 years ago, said Bruce Mate, emeritus director of Oregon State University’s Marine Mammal Institute. That’s when the Lewis and Clark expedition traded with a local tribe for blubber in 1806 when what is believed to be a blue whale washed ashore near modern-day Cannon Beach, Ore.

Blue whales are the largest animals that have ever lived on Earth, even bigger than the largest dinosaurs, Mate said.

“We have blue whales offshore every year, but they are typically a deep-water animal, farther offshore — 10 miles or more,” he said. “When they do die, the usually sink to the bottom rather than wash up on the beach.”

365 bones were brought back to land Thursday, including 18-foot-long mandibles and a skull weighing 6,500 pounds, according to a statement from OSU.