If you grew up in Hong Kong in the 1990s and 2000s, chances are, you’ve gone out to Cape D’Aguilar with your family or your classmates on a school trip. Hands up if you’ve got an old photograph of yourself posing in front of a large whale skeleton!
In recent months, however, Cape D’Aguilar has not been quite the same. Namely, the well-known whale skeleton – affectionately referred to as ‘Hong Kong’s whale’ – was no longer around. Good news: We’re happy to report that Cape D’Aguilar’s most famous resident has returned to its perch – but there’s something different about it.
First, a little history. How did this whale skeleton in Cape D’Aguilar come to be? In 1955, a two-month-old fin whale calf swam into Victoria Harbour, likely lost and separated from its mother. Being dependent on but deprived of its mother’s milk, it had suffered from starvation, and authorities made the decision to put it down. Its bones, however, were preserved at the University of Hong Kong, and eventually installed outside the Swire Institute of Marine Science (SWIMS) building in Cape D’Aguilar in 1991. Exposed to the elements, the poor whale’s skeleton was affected by the unforgiving coastal conditions, buffeted by sea spray, strong winds, and ultraviolet rays.
Super Typhoon Mangkhut was the final nail in the coffin for ‘Hong Kong’s whale’. Intense wind battered the whale skeleton, deforming the supportive structures holding the bones together. Its ribs cracked under the pressure, its lower right jawbone was displaced, and its left hip bone was blown away, causing considerable damage that could not be repaired. In 2021, it was ultimately decided the fragile bones needed to be removed from its perch on the rocks of Cape D’Aguilar and preserved in the university’s biodiversity collection. SWIMS then tackled the commissioning of a set of replica whale bones.
A 3-D printed model was installed in 2023, but that had an even shorter lifespan than the original – the material deteriorated quickly, and the model lasted less than a year. SWIMS went on to engage a company in Sichuan known for manufacturing skeletal displays and provided them with scans of each individual bone. In October, the replica was completed, and just this month, the SWIMS team unveiled the new ‘skeleton’ at Cape D’Aguilar, which is what visitors will see stationed by the rocky coastline from now on.
Whatever happened to keeping things real? It’s a terrible shame that Hongkongers can no longer lay eyes on an authentic slice of the city’s history. We’ll make no bones about it – we’ll still pay our respects to ‘Hong Kong’s whale’ the next time we hike out to Cape D’Aguilar, but knowing it’s a replica does dampen the enthusiasm a bit. Still, kudos to the SWIMS team – keeping the display alive, despite its origin, is a solid public service.
Also, fun fact: Don’t believe Google Maps, which incorrectly labels the location of ‘Hong Kong’s whale’ as the ‘Bones of Miss Willy’. SWIMS research discovered that Hong Kong’s only known aquatic mammal named Miss Willy was a killer whale that passed away at Ocean Park Hong Kong in the late 1980s. Because the Cape D’Aguilar skeleton was unveiled to the public just a few years later, the misconception continues to this day!
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