Weather and wildlife strip the carcase clean

A 16 metre-long adult Sperm Whale beaching its carcase on the Bay of Tuquoy in 2007 was a source of much excitement on Westray. An adult male of 60 to 80 years old like this is a wonderful sight. Unfortunately, it took two years of putrefaction of rancid fat giving a stench of smelling-salts proportions to enable the weather and the wildlife to strip the carcase clean. Its bones are now reassembled and displayed outside the Westray Heritage Center.