Mike has just returned from a preliminary consulting trip to London, England. In 2017, Cetacea Contracting will be part of the team that has been hired to re-articulate the 100-year old blue whale skeleton at the London Natural History Museum! Conservators have been working for over a year to clean and prepare the bones. Once the skeleton is ready, Mike and George Hudson will be helping the internationally renowned team from RCI (Research Casting International) to design and fabricate a new custom armature that will see the skeleton brought to life in Hintze Hall, the main gallery space of the museum. 

Last week, Mike was asked to visit the Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre in Sidney, BC, to help bring life to the skeleton of A9 which had been on display at the aquarium but wasn't creating as much of a stir as a skeleton such as hers should have.  Together with a group of core volunteers from the aquarium, A9 was moved, her flippers were re-articulated for anatomical accuracy then repositioned along with her skull. An interpretive dorsal fin and tail fluke were also fabricated to complete the display. Now, as visitors walk through the aquarium, A9 swims toward them as she would have moved in life.