We have been touring our Whales Tohorā exhibition internationally since October 2008, taking our unique whale stories to the world.
Whales Tōhora exhibition at Te Papa, with Tū Hononga the male sperm whale skeleton.© Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, 2008
It opens at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa on 2 March, and has recently been on show at the Field Museum of Natural History, in Chicago.
When you take such a big exhibition on tour and have to move things as big as a couple of sperm whale skeletons there are bound to be some great stories… and some hairy moments.
Tū Hononga (meaning “the connection”) is the male sperm whale skeleton at the heart of the exhibition. He is about 17 metres long and the large skull and jaw weighs about 795 kilos. That’s quite a challenge to move safely through the doors of some museum buildings and then up several floors into the galleries - as the staff and Te Papa install team at the Canadian Museum of Nature found out.
Read the Canadian Museum of Nature’s blog and watch the video about Tū Hononga’s latest adventure.
Be warned! – make sure you read right through to the end 
