Beloved blue whale skeleton at UC Santa Cruz gets high-tech restoration
By Molly McCrea
A chance encounter at the University of California, Santa Cruz, has led to the restoration of a long-time, massive display of a blue whale skeleton display at the university.
Forty-six years ago, a mature blue whale swimming off the California coast died and washed up on Pescadero Beach in San Mateo County.
An intrepid team of faculty, staff, and students at UC Santa Cruz then saved her bones and mounted them for science and public education. They called her “Ms. Blue.”
For decades, Ms. Blue greeted visitors to the Seymour Marine Science Center on the campus. But after decades, under the sun, wind, rain, and sea spray, the bones of the beloved whale had greatly deteriorated, and the mount holding her was now rusty.
Experts feared Ms. Blue was a public safety hazard and might have to be taken down. That’s when the community of marine scientists, engineers, surfers, and high-tech wizards at a Hollywood special effects studio stepped up to make sure the iconic Ms. Blue would be fully restored for generations to come.
The project came together by sheer happenstance when Halon Entertainment visual effects designer Jess Marley traveled to Santa Cruz to see his family. Marley took a run along the Santa Cruz coast and came face-to-face with the deteriorating skeleton. His aunt happens to volunteer at the Seymour Center, and she told her nephew about Ms. Blue’s predicament.
Marley came up with the bright idea to create a digital twin. His colleague, producer Andrew Ritter, jumped on board, thrilled to work with such a massive fossil.
Seymour Center executive director Jonathan Hicken immediately saw an ocean of possibilities with a 3D digital copy of Ms. Blue.
The Halon drew used special Leica Geosystem RTC360 scanners to create a digital skeleton, and with the guidance of the scientists at the Seymour Center, they created a full-skinned Ms. Blue.
Volunteers are invited to help in the display’s restoration. If you want to help remount and restore Ms. Blue, visit: seymourcenter.ucsc.edu/msblue/
