blue whales

A 70-foot blue whale skeleton is now on display at Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport.

A blue whale skeleton is being assembled at Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport. The project is the culmination of more than 10 years of effort.

If all goes as planned, the skeleton — after help from scientists and specialists from around the world — will be fully reassembled in May outside the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, completing a journey from surf to scientific centerpiece.

When completed, the 5,000-pound finished product will be one of only six complete blue whale skeletons on display in the United States and one of maybe two dozen anywhere in the world.

Dreams of putting a 70-foot long blue whale skeleton on display are inching closer to reality, after the mammal washed ashore on the Oregon Coast eight years ago.

Oregon State University researchers have a quandary. They’ve a nearly 80-foot long blue whale carcass they want to turn into an educational display…but no…