Daume HV, Herr H, Mallison H, Glaubrecht M, Kaiser TM (2023)
Osteopathological analysis provides evidence for a survived historical ship strike in a Southern Hemisphere fin whale
(Balaenoptera physalus). PLoS ONE 18(2): e0281316.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0281316 The life history of a fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) caught during whaling operations in
the 1950s was partly reconstructed. 3D surface models of the bones of the skeleton curated
at the Zoological Museum of Hamburg were used for an osteopathological analysis. The
skeleton revealed multiple healed fractures of ribs and a scapula. Moreover, the processus
spinosi of several vertebrae were deformed and arthrosis was found. Together, the pathological
findings provide evidence for large blunt trauma and secondary effects arising from
it. Reconstruction of the likely cause of events suggests collision with a ship inflicting the
fractures and leading to post traumatic posture damage as indicated by skeletal deformations.
The injured bones had fully healed before the fin whale was killed by a whaler in the
South Atlantic in 1952. This study is the first in-detail reconstruction of a historical whale—
ship collision in the Southern Hemisphere, dating back to the 1940s, and the first documentation
of a healed scapula fracture in a fin whale. The skeleton provides evidence for survival
of a ship strike by a fin whale with severe injuries causing long-term impairment.