New Bedford Whaling Museum Whale Bones Continue to Drip Oil

It's been over two decades since KOBO began hanging around at the New Bedford Whaling Museum on Johnny Cake Hill. He seems to like the place and has entertained, educated and contributed something almost every day since arriving on the scene.

KOBO, the complete skeleton of a 66-foot rare juvenile blue whale, was acquired by the museum after being accidentally struck and killed by a 485-foot tanker and brought ashore in Rhode Island in March 1998.

KOBO (or "King of the Blue Ocean," as named by a local student) hangs suspended from the ceiling, the centerpiece of the museum's Jacobs Family Gallery since August 2000.

The Whaling Museum says, "KOBO is one of six blue whale skeletons on display around the world and allows the Museum to make the connection to the need for conservation of endangered whales."

In a 2023 article about the emerging offshore wind industry off the Massachusetts coast, the Associated Press reported, "New Bedford was once lit the world with whale oil." Indeed, it did.

The AP stated New Bedford exported "vast quantities of whale oil for lamps in the early 1800s" as "workers packed the docks, unloading casks of oil that had been extracted at sea from whale carcasses and brought in by a fleet of hundreds of whaling ships."

The whaling era has long passed for New Bedford, but oddly, KOBO keeps it alive. KOBO has been dripping whale oil since taking his place in the Jacobs Family Gallery,

Whaling Museum Communications and Marketing Manager Drew Furtado says KOBO "has dripped daily the entire time."

"It's been happening since the skeleton first went on display," he said.

"I want to make it clear that it's not raining blue whale oil," Furtado said. "We're talking about one to two drops a day if that."

Furtado said the amount and frequency of the oil dripping can be affected by temperature and humidity.

Furtado said the museum's other, smaller whale skeletons were composted in elephant manure at the Buttonwood Park Zoo "to draw the oil out of the bones." KOBO was too big to compost at the zoo so the bones were placed in the Acushnet River in cages. That procedure did not draw the oil from the bones, thus KOBO drips a bit.

The museum added a flask system in 2012 to collect KOBO's whale oil.

"Since then we have filled a flask and a half," Furtado said. "The full flask has been sealed and is in our collection."

"We're hoping that some students might want to analyze it in the future, but as of now it sits in storage," he said.

READ MORE: New Bedford Hanging Skeleton Is a Whale-Oiled Machine

But has anyone ever been hit by dripping whale oil?

"In 24 years, it's highly probable that someone has been splattered by oil, but we can't confirm or have data on how many times it has happened," Furtado said.

I can testify to one such case. Fun 107's Gazelle said it happened to him.

"I got oil dripped on me while attending a wedding in 2015," he said. "Let the director know they owe me a new white button-down."