Huge sperm whale specimen shows its mammalian characteristics at Tokyo museum

A model of the right-hand -- or right-fin -- side of a sperm whale is seen at the National Museum of Nature and Science in Taito Ward, Tokyo, on Monday. (Credit: The Yomiuri Shimbun)

It's truly a whale of a specimen.

The National Museum of Nature and Science in Tokyo's Ueno district on Tuesday began a permanent display of the skeleton of a sperm whale, combined with a fleshed-out model of the right side of its body.

A press preview was held on Monday. According to the museum, the specimen was a 14-meter-long male that was washed up on a beach in Kagoshima Prefecture in 2005. The specimen can be seen suspended from the ceiling of the first floor at the museum's Global Gallery.

The head of a model sperm whale, built around a real whale's skeleton (Credit: The Yomiuri Shimbun)

The model reproduces the eye, ear, navel and anus, as well as the internal structure of the head. The pectoral fins of the skeleton show five phalanges, a characteristic of mammals.

"I'm happy if you can comprehend that such huge animals are still swimming in the sea," said Yuko Tajima, a senior curator at the museum, who supervised the assembly of the specimen.

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