The pose
The whale's pose reflects the latest science.
Diving beneath the room's soaring rafters, this skeleton looks as if it is swimming through air.
The whale's pose reflects the latest research into how these huge animals eat krill, their tiny prey.
Scientists understood little about this dynamic behaviour until relatively recently. So when this whale skeleton first went on public display in the 1930s, its body lay suspended in a flat, horizontal posture.
Its new diving pose was devised by Museum experts to better reflect how the species behaves in the oceans.
This engineering feat was so large, the whale had to be taken to an off-site warehouse big enough to hold its 25 metre frame.
It took experts months to construct a new armature and position the whale in its new diving posture.