The Blue Whale Story

The Blue Whale Story is open at the Saint Louis Science Center through January 10, 2027, having run since May 23. It's an exhibition produced by the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, and it's built around a few things that are hard to wrap your head around until you're standing right in front of them.

The center of the show is 'Blue,' an 80-foot life-sized female blue whale skeleton. Beside it is the world's only full-scale model of a blue whale heart—which, for context, can top 400 pounds—and a full-scale model of a blue whale jaw. There's also a Whale Sound Chamber with surround-sound whale calls and a game called License to Krill.

Much of the exhibition comes from a specific tragedy. In 2014, nine endangered North Atlantic blue whales became trapped in sea ice off the coast of Newfoundland. Two were recovered and studied by Royal Ontario Museum scientists, which gave them a rare chance to examine a blue whale up close. The show uses that research to trace the animal's evolution from Pakicetus, a wolf-sized, four-legged mammal that lived on land 50 million years ago, and looks at how commercial whaling in the 19th and 20th centuries devastated their numbers. Recovery is still slow, and it's being driven by science and preservation.

Blue whales are the largest animals to have ever lived, growing to more than 100 feet and weighing up to 400,000 pounds. Most visitors spend 45 to 60 minutes inside. There's no re-entry, and food and drink aren't allowed. You'll find the exhibition in the Main Building on Floor 1 at 5050 Oakland Avenue. Tickets are $16 for adults (ages 13-59), $14 for seniors (60+), $12 for children (5-12), and $8 for members. Children 4 and under are free, though they still need a ticket from the Box Office. Groups of 10 or more are $10 per person with advance reservations.