Reproduction
Object numberRCSHC/710
Scientific nameHyperoodon ampullatus
CollectionHunterian
CategoryWet preparations
DescriptionPart of the intestine of a bottlenosed whale showing the structure of the passage.
According to his notes and published papers Hunter only dissected one example of a bottlenose whale, an immature female caught in the River Thames in 1783. The animal was dissected by Hunter with the assistance of William Andre, Joshua Brookes and Joseph Hurlock.
Production date 1783 - 1793
Preparator
Preparator
Owner/user
presented
Related objectsRCSHC/711RCSHC/712
Physical Location
LocationNot on public display: contact museum for access conditions
Physical Information
Physical descriptionWet preparation of tissue mounted in a circular glass jar with glass lid.
Materialglass (material)
Hyperoodon rostratum
Dimensions
whole height: 158 mm
whole diameter: 103 mm
whole weight: 1352 g
whole diameter: 103 mm
whole weight: 1352 g
Bibliography
SourceDobson 1970-71
Transcript710: A similar preparation of the intestine of the Bottle-nose.
SourceHunter 1861
Vol. 2, pages 109-113
NotesNotes by Hunter on the anatomy of the 'Bottle-Nose Whale'. These indicate that the animal was an immature female, and was 24 feet 9 inches from mouth to tip of tail round the exterior of the body. This would correspond with the figure of 21 feet given for the animal described in Hunter's paper on the Oeconomy of the Whale Tribe (see below) which probably refers to the preserved skeleton (the length of the only Bottle-nose whale skeleton from Hunter's collection was give as 21 feet by Cuvier, quoted in the 1833 Osteology Catalogue).
Transcript[pp.110-111] Nearly through the whole track of the intestines the inner coat was thrown into large cells, and these at their bottom were again subdivided into smaller. The axis of those cells were not perpendicular to a transverse section of the intestine, but were oblique, so as to form pouches with their mouths downwards, so as to act almost like valves when anything passed in a contrary direction; for when water was thrown into the intestine upwards, it could hardly be made to pass, while it flowed easily downwards. These cells begin at the duodenum before it makes its quick turn, although but faintly, and terminate near to the anus.
SourceHunter 'Works'
Vol. 4, page 360-62.
TranscriptThe structure of the inner surface of the intestine is in some very singular, and different from that of the others. The inner surface of the duodenum in the Piked Whale is thrown into longitudinal rugae, or valves, which are at some distance from each other, and these receive lateral folds. The duodenum in the Bottle-nose swells out into a large cavity, and might almost be reckoned an eighth stomach; but as the gall ducts enter it I shall call it duodenum.
The inner coat of the jejunum, and ileum (in the Piked Whale) appears in irregular folds, which may vary according as the muscular coat of the intestine acts: yet I do not believe that their form depends entirely on that circumstance, as they run longitudinally, and take a serpentine course when the gut is shortened by the contraction of the longitudinal muscular fibres. The intestinal canal of the porpoise has several longitudinal folds of the inner coat passing along it through the whole of its length. In the Bottle-nose the inner coat, through nearly the whole track of the intestine, is thrown into large cells, and these again subdivided into smaller; the axis of which cells is not perpendicular to a transverse section of the intestine, but oblique, forming pouches with the mouths downwards, and acting almost like valves when anything is attempted to be passed in a contrary direction: they begin faintly in the duodenum, before it makes its quick turn, and terminate near the anus. The colon and rectum have the rugae very flat, which seems to depend entirely on the contraction of the gut.
The rectum in the Piked Whale near the anus, appears for four or five inches much contracted, is glandular, covered by a soft cuticle, and the anus small. I never found any air in the intestines of this tribe; nor indeed in any of the aquatic animals. The mesenteric artery anastomoses by large branches. ...
Although this tribe cannot be said to ruminate, yet in the number of stomachs they come nearest to that order; but here I suspect that the order of digestion is in some degree inverted. In both the ruminants, and this tribe, I think it must be allowed that the first stomach is a reservoir. In the ruminants the precise use of the second and third stomachs is perhaps not known; but digestion is certainly carried on in the fourth; while in this tribe, I imagine, digestion is performed in the second, and the use of the third and fourth is not exactly ascertained. The caecum and colon do not assist in pointing out the nature of the food and mode of digestion in this tribe. The porpoise, which has teeth and four cavities to the stomach, has no caecum, similar to some land animals, as the bear, badger, racoon, ferret, polecat, &c.; neither has the bottle-nose a caecum which has only two small teeth in the lower jaw; and the Piked Whale, which has no teeth, has a caecum, almost exactly like the lion, which has teeth and a very different kind of stomach. The food of the whole of this tribe, I believe, is fish; probably each may have a particular kind of which it is fondest, yet does not refuse a variety. In the stomach of the large Bottle-nose I found the beaks of some hundreds of cuttle-fish. In the grampus I found the tail of a porpoise; so that they eat their own genus. In the stomach of the Piked Whale I found the bones of different fish, but particularly those of the dog-fish. From the size of the oesophagus we may conclude that they do not swallow fish so large in proportion to their size as many fish do that we have reason to believe take their food in the same way; for fish often attempt to swallow what is larger than their stomachs can at one time contain, and part remains in the oesophagus till the rest is digested.
SourceHunter 1787d
NotesHunter's original paper on the Oeconomy of the Whale Tribe. The animal from which this preparation was taken is figured as Plate 19, and its source is described in the accompanying caption, pages 447-8.
TranscriptThe Bottle-nose whale described by DALE. It is similar to that of Plate XVIII [the bottle-nose dolphin, named by Hunter as Delphinus Delphis, Linn., now Tursiops truncatus], in its general form, but has only two small pointed teeth in the forepart of the upper jaw, and is rather lighter coloured on the belly. It was caught above London Bridge in the year 1783, and became the property of the late Alderman PUGH, who very politely allowed me to examine its structure, and to take away the bones. It was twenty-one feet long.
