Two years ago we had a swarm of dolphins come ashore because of sickness. We received permission from the US Fish and Game Department to acquire specimens for the purpose of institutional instruction, and principally to be hung in the new aquarium building being built
by Dave Long. At the time, I did not know it, but a dolphin had come ashore by itself and died at Morro Bay, California. Park rangers, to prevent mutilation of the carcass, buried the animal. The rangers informed me (Newman Whitmire) that the animal was available, and I then picked the animal up and extracted the skelton from the animal and buried the remains so that it would not be disturbed. We then had to separate the animal because it was over six feet long. We then cooked
the animal, using a technique illustrated by Cuesta College who has many of these skeletons hanging in their facilities. Over a period of two years we have treated the bones, extracted the material from the bones so that we have nothing but bone material which is bleached. We have five students now who are reassembling those bones for the purpose of hanging the skeleton in the museum. It'll probably take a couple of months to finish the skeleton. We are using photographs, not of the same skeleton but of other types to get configuration ideas. We are still looking for other photographs of a common dolphin.

Interview Report on Dolphin Project by Newman Whitmire, Science Instructor
Cabrillo High School, May 16, 1996