One of the Otago Museum’s oldest icons, the fin whale skeleton, was found on the beach in Nelson at the entrance to the Waimea River in 1882. Captain Jackson Barry toured the South Island and displayed the skeleton to people for a small fee (sixpence). He travelled with the skeleton by land, and finally brought it to Dunedin, unfortunately losing a few small bones along the way. Dr Bourne of the University of Otago was able to make the missing bones out of wood to make the Otago Museum’s fin whale one of only a few “complete” fin whale skeletons in the world.

The fin whale skeleton, which the Otago Museum purchased from Captain Barry in 1884, was suspended in the museum’s original atrium and was looked down on from the Animal Attic. For a time the skeleton was believed to be a blue whale, which were more common in Australasian Museums. Fin whales are smaller, more streamlined and pointed around the snout than the blue whale. They have a slightly hooked, triangular dorsal fin, and between the fin and tail the back is distinctly ridged, a feature which led whalers to call them razorbacks.

The Otago Museum’s 16.76 metres fin whale is actually only a juvenile. An adult would have been far longer as they reach a maximum of 25.91 metres. The fin whale is the second largest animal in the world (after the blue whale). An adult weighs up to 80 tonnes and it is believed that fin whales may live up to 80 years.