Two years ago, we brought you the  fascinating story  of some German and Swiss researchers who had investigated whether the carcasses of prehistoric “whales” (aka ichthyosaurs) ever exploded, which could explain why bone fossils are sometimes found scattered about instead of all together.  And today we have an update on their work. Here’s how we summarized their results in February 2012: In what has to be one of the most disappointing scientific results of the 21st century, the scientists conclude that ichthyosaur carcasses probably did not frequently explode and scatter bones. Rather, they conclude that dead prehistoric whale-like creatures would have sunk to the sea floor and would have only resurfaced when “they remained in shallow water above a certain temperature and at a low scavenging rate.” Subsequently, bone scattering would have supposedly occurred as the carcass floated around and decomposed gradually. Killjoys, we say! Here at TheExplodingWhale.com we simply refuse to allow

Long-time Register-Guard columnist Bob Welch, ardent fan of the Exploding Whale, wrote his last column on December 5, 2013. Bob’s many columns mentioning Oregon’s Exploding Whale have long been featured on this site. Bob wrote several columns that featured Oregon’s Exploding Whale prominently, but he also loved to weave in references to the Exploding Whale in columns that had nothing to do with it. While he’s leaving the newspaper business, he plans to remain active as a writer and speaker. And even though he didn’t work in a mention of the Exploding Whale in his final column, we here at the TheExplodingWhale.com still wish him all the best. Because he was such a fan of the Exploding Whale, it only seems fitting that we memorialize his final column on our site — even though it doesn’t mention our favorite topic! RG columnist Bob Welch retires (12/5/2013)   – TheExplodingWhale.com Links to his interview with KLCC and the original RG column appear below: Bob Welch Retires as a Columnist 

On November 26, 2013, the carcass of a dead sperm whale violently exploded in the Faroe Islands when a marine biologist began cutting it open. Four sperm whales became stranded between the islands of Streymoy and Eysturoy. Two of the whales eventually died. A few days later, one of the dead whales was towed to a nearby abandoned whaling station ( Við Áir ) so the bones could be harvested for a future museum display. However, as they started to cut into the carcass, a violent explosion erupted from the whale’s abdomen spraying blood and entrails for many yards and nearly injuring  Bjarni Mikkelsen , the biologist who was doing the cutting. The story has been memorialized on our website here:  Faroe Islands (11/26/2013)