How Scientists Preserved a 200kg Blue Whale Heart

When a blue whale washed up on the shores of Newfoundland in 2014, it was a rare opportunity for scientists to learn more about the largest animal on Earth. However, preserving the heart of the whale posed a unique challenge. The heart of a blue whale can weigh over 200kg and is roughly the size of a small car. Yet, mammalogy technicians at the Royal Ontario Museum were able to successfully preserve the 180cm-long heart, which is now on display at the museum.

Jacqueline Miller, who led the preservation process, explains that the size of the heart accelerated its decomposition, making the preservation even more remarkable. Here’s how the team managed to plastinate the massive organ:

1. Extract: The process began with ten workers starting at the tail of the whale and filleting the blubber and tissue into sections until they reached the heart. Technicians then severed the blood vessels, cut open the pericardial sac surrounding the heart, and pushed it out of the rib cage.
2. Dilate: Without blood, the heart would flatten. To prevent this, researchers inserted hoses into two blood vessels and pumped in more than 3,200 litres of formaldehyde, which stiffened the muscles, stopped decomposition, and made the heart balloon back up.
3. Ship: Technicians triple-wrapped the wet organ in absorbent mats, forklifted it into a padded steel tank, and packed in thousands of peanuts. The heart was then flown to Gubener Plastinate in Germany, where Gunther von Hagens prepares the displays for his Body Worlds exhibitions.
4. Plastinate: German anatomists soaked the heart in acetone and replaced all the water molecules in the tissue with acetone over six months. Technicians then soaked the heart in a silicone polymer solution and placed it in a vacuum chamber, causing the acetone to bubble away and the polymer to take its place.
5. Cure: A gaseous curing agent hardened the silicone. After three months, the heart was transformed into a giant plastic glob, which is now on display at the Royal Ontario Museum.

The preservation of the blue whale heart is a significant achievement in the field of mammalogy, and the Royal Ontario Museum is one of the few places in the world where visitors can see a blue whale heart on display. It is a reminder of the incredible size and complexity of the largest animal on the planet and the incredible efforts that go into preserving and learning from these magnificent creatures.