The South Shore Natural Science Center is proud to partner with NOAA’s Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary to bring Salt, the Sanctuary’s lifelike inflatable humpback whale, to your school or community event.
As part of the Whales in Your Backyard program, your students will:
*Tour the interior of a 45-foot-long by 37-foot-long inflatable whale, learning about the internal biology of the Megaptera Novaeangliae (“big-winged New Englander”), the Northern Humpback Whale;
*Examine the exterior of Salt, and understand how the markings on her body gave her her name;
*”Eat Like a Whale,” and understand how baleen whale feeding habits differ from those of toothed whales;
*Try on a Blubber Glove, to understand the thermodynamic properties of this internal layer of fat that allows whales to dive to the deepest reaches of the ocean;
*Touch real whale vertebra and baleen;
*Test themselves in a fluke matching game, to understand how whale biologists track humpbacks visiting the feeding grounds in the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary each year;
*Learn about the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, its whereabouts, its mission and how it works to protect endangered species and habitats;
And more.
The “Whales in Your Backyard” program is a joint program of the South Shore Natural Science Center and Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. Scheduling each program is reliant on the availability of the inflatable whale. Please contact Trish DeGiulio, the Science Center’s Director of Environmental Education, at 781-659-2559 for more information. For more information about the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, please visit their website.
