Every year Freek Vonk, Dutch biologist and TV presenter, does a live show at a huge concert hall near Amsterdam. At his performances in December 2022 and May 2023, I was asked by Mickel van Leeuwen from Inside Out Animals to assist with the setting up and taking down of a 15 meter sperm whale skeleton for this live show. I was happy to help out!

This skeleton is from the Naturalis collections and it died near Harlingen in the Netherlands. I was on the team that retrieved the skeleton back in 2015. I won’t ever forget it because it was the largest sperm whale we’d ever worked on and also it was a hot summer day. Most whales seem to wash up on days that are cold, windy and rainy but it is a different challenge when it is very hot! Lots of sweat. And maggots. ANYWAY….fast forward a few years, and the bones are clean, degreased and ready to go on exhibit..in this case in a huge concert hall!

Mickel, who had cleaned and mounted the skeleton, designed it in such a way that it was in sections and could be put together easily…we joked that it was the Ikea whale. The skeleton has an RVS frame that runs through the spine. This has been sectioned into three parts: tail, middle, and front. First the skull is hung, then the spinal sections are fitted on, then the ribs, flippers, lower jaw (which is the heaviest part) and finally the hip bones. The whole skeleton was suspended from a metal grid. It took three of us to manage the assembly, myself, Mickel and talented carpenter Jaap Bosma. Specialty movers brought the bones in from Naturalis.

Despite the skeleton being in pieces and the frame designed for simple assembly, the size and weight makes this a challenging project. The total weight is 2000 kilos, with the heaviest section being the skull at 800 kilos. This means that the skeleton cannot be assembled on the stage, because it is too heavy. The entire stage must be rolled away so that we can manipulate the skeleton. Also, a forklift is required to lift each bone section into place. It can be a challenge to coordinate with all the other teams working backstage: lighting,sound, props, etc. However, it is really fun to answer questions about the skeleton from our colleagues. Because the Dutch name for sperm whale is “potvis (pot fish)” many people think that it is actually a fish.

For most of the show, the whale hangs 20 meters up and out of the view of the audience until it is dramatically lowered at the right moment! It is very cool, because Freek talked about how it is the largest predator on Earth and the audience was excited! I am glad that this special specimen had a moment in the spotlight, and it was a pleasure to be part of it!!