Re: How long does it take for a whale to decompose?

Hi Isabella:

I had a look around, and found a few instances where whales were buried to allow them to decompose (in order to collect the skeleton later, as one often sees suspended from the ceilings of museums). In many cases, the whales were cut up first, or buried on land (in manure, in many cases). Here's a few examples:

• two years (In Dominica, so a pretty warm environment where decomposition might be faster).
• two years (Washington State)
• one year (California, a pretty small one, see the photo).

So my semi-educated guess would be something like two to four years, depending on the size of the whale. While a long time period will probably prevent any "unpleasant surprises", some additional cleaning will probably need to be done on your part.

Unfortunately, there isn't anything like a "bone detectors" you can go out and buy. Metal detectors use magnetic fields, and require the target to be electrically conductive, and bone is not a good conductor. So you might have to do quite a bit of digging to find it!

Best of luck,
Rob Campbell, MAD Scientist