This week, Manx National Heritage is inviting families to dive into an ocean of discovery at the Manx Museum as it marks the centenary of its most iconic exhibit — the museum’s majestic Sei Whale skeleton.
To celebrate 100 years since the acquisition of this awe-inspiring specimen, Manx National Heritage has teamed up with Manx Whale and Dolphin Watch and the Manx Wildlife Trust to host a special day of marine-themed activities on Thursday, 14 August 2025.
The event will feature three activities designed to inspire curiosity about whales, dolphins, and ocean conservation:
Beneath the Bones: Whale Skeleton Tour & Ocean Discoveries
Duration: 30 minutes
Location: Natural History Gallery, Manx Museum
Discover the incredible 100-year journey of the Manx Museum’s Sei whale skeleton with a behind-the-scenes tour led by Manx National Heritage Curator for Natural History, Laura McCoy. Explore the fascinating story of how this giant of the sea came to the Isle of Man, and what it reveals about marine life past and present. After the tour, take a microscopic look at the ocean’s smallest creatures — the plankton that sustain whales — and learn how plastic pollution threatens them. This hands-on experience combines science, storytelling, and conservation action.
Meet a Dolphin, a Porpoise and a Seal!
Duration: 30 minutes
Location: Natural History Gallery, Manx Museum
Get up close to life-size inflatable marine mammals with the Manx Whale and Dolphin Watch team. Meet Robbie the Risso’s dolphin, Perkyn the porpoise, and Tulip Bell the seal while learning how to spot dolphins from the shore, how scientists study them, and why Manx waters are so special for marine wildlife.
This lively, interactive talk includes fascinating facts, Q&A sessions, and hands-on activities for all ages.
Whale Tales: Community Art & Collage
Duration: 30 minutes
Location: Seminar Room, Manx Museum
Help create a giant community whale collage using biodegradable materials and ocean-inspired textures. Learn fun whale facts while expressing your creativity, and help build an artwork that celebrates the Sei whale’s story and the rich marine life of the Isle of Man.
The event takes place from 1pm on Thursday, 14 August 2025 at the Manx Museum in Douglas. Tickets cost £5 per child. Book now at https://manxnationalheritage.im/whats-on/
ENDS
Editor’s Notes:
The 14 metre long female adult Sei Whale, Balaenoptera borealis, became stranded in a gully at Langness on the south coast of the Isle of Man in May 1925, measuring 48ft 6in (14.63 metres) when washed ashore. The whale drew crowds of curious islanders, who appear in photographs taken at the time to document the stranding and the transport of the dead beast by three steam traction engines to a burial site near Douglas.
The story goes that a police escort went on ahead through villages on route to advise householders to close their windows to keep out the powerful smell of decay. After ten years, the skeleton was at last put together, mounted and displayed in a newly built natural history gallery at the Manx Museum. It now hangs in a different gallery, as part of a natural history display opened in 2005.
Sei Whales are quite widespread in the world’s oceans, though they very rarely enter the seas around the British Isles. They prefer deep water, feeding in the cooler northern seas and migrating southwards to breed and give birth. These whales have fringed baleen plates instead of teeth and feed by filtering plankton or small fish out from mouthfuls of water. They were much persecuted during the heyday of whaling in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Now considered to be endangered, they are internationally protected.
In the same year that the largest mammal ever to get to the Isle of Man met its end at Langness, the Manx Museum acquired a skeleton of the Island’s smallest mammal – a Pigmy Shrew. This is on display under the whale and both specimens serve to illustrate not only the huge difference in size between the two species but also the features they share which illustrate the structural principles of the mammalian skeleton.
Image:
The Sei Whale transported by traction engine to Douglas
The Sei Whale on display at the Manx Museum
