10 Things About Jubi
You’d be forgiven for thinking the skeleton in the picture is that of a dinosaur. In fact, it’s a whale – and not just any old whale!
#1
The photo shows the skeleton of a female sperm whale, which is on display at the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum.
#2
The creature whose bones are now on display was a 10.6m female sperm whale that washed up off the coast of Jurong Island in 2015.
#3
It was give a nickname by researchers and scientists: first name “Jubi”, second name “Lee”. Why? Have a guess and we’ll tell you at the bottom of the page.
#4
Studies suggested that the whale died off the west coast of Malaysia, perhaps as a result of a collision with a ship (it had spinal injuries and a large cut). The body then floated to Singapore.
#5
While sperm whales have one of the widest global distributions of any marine mammal species, this is the first sperm whale found in Singapore waters.
#6
DNA analysis initially linked the whale’s “mitochondrial genetic signature” to sperm whales in the North Pacific Ocean, but later research connected her with a pod of whales from the Southern Indian Ocean, perhaps near the Cocos (Keeling) Islands.
#7
Sperm whales are the largest toothed whales – so, they don’t have a baleen filtering system for eating krill. Examination of Jubi’s stomach showed that her diet consisted mostly of squid – a lot of squid; in fact, there were as many as 1,800 undigested squid beaks in her gut! Researchers also found fish, a lobster and other marine life.
#8
Unfortunately, Jubi hadn’t only been eating all the tasty stuff. Her belly also contained a number of plastic objects, including drinking cups, food wrappers and bags.
#9
This is not the first time a whale has been displayed in Singapore. The skeleton of a 13m-long Indian fin whale was an exhibit in the old National Museum from 1907 to 1974, before it was presented as a gift to Malaysia. It had originally been found on a beach in Malacca, and is now displayed in the Labuan Marine Museum off the coast of Sabah.
#10
Sperm whales are listed as vulnerable to extinction by conservation authorities, and they are protected by a whaling moratorium.
See Jubi up close and personal at the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum at the National University of Singapore, 2 Conservatory Drive. lkcnhm.nus.edu.sg