A milestone was reached on the 25th day of the gray whale project! The vertebrae of the main backbone support was permanently locked into place.

Museum intern, Zelda Grove, and visiting volunteer Laurel Miller Patrick (from Mexico), attached one of the pieces of hanging hardware onto the main backbone support and made sure it was level.

Museum intern/machinist, Caroline deCreeft, removed the excess end of the main backbone support.

Marilyn Kirkham, Esther Lowe and Rachel Bilbo (not pictured) locked the vertebrae in place along the main backbone support, with one of many layers of silicone cartilage replacement.

The silicone cartilage replacement is added between the vertebrae, one layer at a time. It takes a day to dry before the next layer can be applied.

Laurel helped Kylie McShane with the smaller end of the tail vertebrae.

Zelda and Tammy McShane worked with the larger end of the tail vertebrae.