Orca skeleton donated to school science class
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Science teacher Zak Tourville and Gershon Cohen examine the skull of an orca that Cohen recently donated to the school. Tourville plans to teach a marine biology class that will reconstruct the skeleton next semester. Lex Treinen photo.
An orca skeleton will be hanging somewhere in the Haines School next year if everything goes to plan.
That's after a Haines resident recently donated a skeleton to science teacher Zak Tourville.
"This random stranger walked in and was like 'hey I have an orca skeleton,'" said Tourville, who is in his first year teaching.
The resident was Gershon Cohen, who said the skeleton had been sitting in two plastic totes in his basement for about 10 years. Cohen previously worked with a whale conservation group in California that was trying to reduce ship strikes on gray whales. A partner with the group gave it to Cohen, who said he always intended to do something educational with it.
Tourville plans to teach a marine biology elective class next semester. In addition to the coursework, the group will try to reassemble the skeleton and develop a way to hang it from the ceiling.
"It's a great privilege and a great opportunity," said Tourville, who said he hasn't undertaken anything quite like this in his decades of teaching.
Tourville and Cohen said they've been talking about ways to make sure the skeleton is put together correctly. Cohen said that while he's partially laid out some of the bones, he thinks there may be some missing, but he has some ideas for how to make replacements.
"We can use 3D printing to make replacements or we can make clay replacements in the pottery studio," he said.
Tourville said he is thrilled to put all of the pieces together and thinks the students will be as well.
"I think the puzzle part of it is going to be really fun. Looking at each little vertebrae and thinking about what's connected," he said.
Cohen said he's already reached out to the Smithsonian Institution for technical advice about putting the skeleton together correctly, and was surprised at the enthusiastic response he got.
So far, school administrators haven't decided where they might hang the completed skeleton, but they are looking into options in the main entryway and in the middle school hallway.
