Monday, November 19, 2012

US Research trip part 3 - the Garber facility



The Garber facility is the large offsite storage facility for the Smithsonian, and many of the different departments and branches of the Smithsonian have their own warehouse or warehouses. Garber is located out at Suitland, Maryland, about a 30 minute drive from the main museum on the national mall. Fossil and modern whales are stored together, and it is a total sensory overload for a marine mammal paleontologist. There is simply too much to look at and photograph – it’s really easy to lose track of time and lose your focus here.


One of the walls of odontocete crania.


A large collection of beaked whale crania (Ziphiidae), many with that troublesome rostrum sawn off.


 Here’s a photo taken from the top of a two story tall ladder – it was pretty intimidating being so high up. You can just about make out Mizuki working in the middle of the photo at the other side of the warehouse.


 A bunch of taxidermied odontocetes.


An extremely large collection of pilot whale (Globicephala) crania.
 

More beaked whales. I believe these are Ziphius cavirostris.

Up next: fossil myticetes, and many more picture-rich posts about the east coast trip. Also on the roster: conclusion to the series of posts about Osedax borings and taphonomy.

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