How to clean your dangling whale

September 5, 2019 10:35 AM

It's annual cleaning time for the whale at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Livestreaming of the cleaning starts soon [FB] (1:30pm Eastern time).
posted by Mchelly (14 comments total)

Is there a non Facebook stream available for those who would prefer to avoid that platform?
posted by Fizz at 10:54 AM on September 5, 2019 [1 favorite]

The Gothamist link said it would include the feed when it went live, but so far it hasn't. You don't need to log in to facebook or have an account to watch it, though.
posted by Mchelly at 10:57 AM on September 5, 2019

They clean stuff in the Museum of Natural History?
posted by Countess Elena at 11:01 AM on September 5, 2019

I've visited NYC once in my life (late 90s? early 00s?), and seeing the whale in person was near the top of my To-Do list. Sadly, although I did get to see at least some of the rest of the museum, that room was closed for renovations or something so I wasn't able to see it. I'm still actively disappointed.
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:08 AM on September 5, 2019

I love that whale!! growing up in NJ the Museum of Natural History was a regular, and most loved, class trip.
posted by supermedusa at 11:14 AM on September 5, 2019

I love that they revised the whale. Added a belly button, no less!
posted by readinghippo at 11:36 AM on September 5, 2019

My sinuses twinged when I just watched him vacuum a fin. So much dust!

On the other hand, the perspective makes me feel so much better about vacuuming my living room. I know my living room doesn't get vacuumed as often as it should, but it's never, like, 94 feet of whale dusty.
posted by Ruki at 1:09 PM on September 5, 2019 [3 favorites]

When I was a kid I would get a visceral fear when standing directly under the whale. I could feel the mass of that huge animal hanging over me. When I got older it went away, but I still remember the feeling of needing to be anywhere but under there.
posted by Splunge at 3:25 PM on September 5, 2019

As a NYC parent I have spent so many hours in that room it isn't funny. I can recite the placards from memory and have names for a lot of the diorama animals I made up with my daughter when she was little. And it always reminded me of being a little kid myself in the same place.
posted by spitbull at 4:28 PM on September 5, 2019 [4 favorites]

Rub-a-dub-dub,
We scrub-a-da chub.
Begin the baleen;
Today he's-a clean.
Ablutions from bastins
For crusty cetaceans.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 2:08 AM on September 6, 2019 [3 favorites]

"basins," dammit. I need to get some Windex and paper towels and clean that Edit window.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 2:48 AM on September 6, 2019

This is my new go-to excuse for avoiding social occasions, thanks!
posted by Quindar Beep at 7:46 AM on September 6, 2019 [2 favorites]

"Oh, I'd love to, but I just washed my taxidermied whale and I simply can't do a thing with it!"
posted by The Underpants Monster at 8:59 AM on September 6, 2019 [2 favorites]

I wonder what the accumulated dust weighed.
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:59 AM on September 6, 2019