Palaoa
Sperm Whale skeleton
Papier-mâché and bone
Bishop Museum's first director William T. Brigham wanted a focal point for Hawaiian Hall and something that would honor the 19th-century whalers that brought a measure of prosperity to Hawaiʻi. He contacted Ward's Natural Science Establishment and asked that they "procure as fine a skeleton of a sperm whale as possible." This palaoa specimen supplied by Ward's is a full-grown male and at the time was thought to be the most impressive of its kind in the country. The idea for the whale's unusual display, which leaves half of its skeleton exposed, came from Brigham, who had viewed a similar exhibit at the Natural History Museum in London.
The skeleton, which weighs 4,300 pounds, was prepared in New York before being shipped via rail and sea to Honolulu. The enormous skull weighs 3,000 pounds and each tooth weighs around two pounds. It is uncertain exactly how the sperm whale bones were cleaned. Common practice at the time was to remove the majority of the meat at sea, then boil the bones, and bake them. The only reference to the preparation of the bones states that the skull was "kept at a temperature of 150 to 180 degrees for three months," apparently for the purpose of removing the oil.
The skeleton was fully assembled on a lawn outside Ward's facilities so that the papier-mâché "skin" could be constructed. Once complete, the entire display was dismantled for shipping. The papier-mâché skin was separated into 17 different pieces.
The evolutionary roots of whales can be traced back to a common ancestor of even-toed ungulates, meaning that the closest living relatives of cetaceans today are hippos, pigs, and camels. The sperm whale is the largest of the toothed whales, so named for the waxy liquid called "spermaceti" found in the top portion of its head. The spermaceti fills a large complex of organs, the purpose of which is to produce powerful and focused clicking sounds. In fact, a sperm whale's head is the world's largest biological sound generator. The whale uses these clicking sounds as a kind of "acoustic flashlight." The clicks propagate away from the whale and bounce back as echoes from the sea floor and other animals in the water. By analyzing these echoes, the whale creates an acoustic picture of its surroundings, allowing it to navigate and find food. This process is called echolocation.