Vashon Nature Center

Adopt-A-Bone & Raise A Whale from Sea to Sky

Become Part of Creating An Island Icon!

INVEST IN SOMETHING EXTRAORDINARY: Singer’s skeleton will be more than a standard museum articulation. WE commissioned local artist Ela Lamblin to create a first-of-its-kind kinetic educational whale sculpture. Imagine a biologically accurate whale skeleton that comes to life through movement! 

CREATE A COMMUNITY ICON: Our partners at the Vashon Center for the Arts agreed to display Singer in the glass atrium of the Kay White building for 5 years for everyone to experience and learn from. After that, Singer may migrate elsewhere for a more permanent home.

PRESERVE 30 MILLION YEARS OF EVOLUTIONARY HISTORY: Only real, recovered bones - no casts - are up for adoption. Gray whales are the only species in the family Eschrichtiidae and are descended from filter-feeding whales that lived 30 million years ago.

SHARE YOUR WISH FOR WHALES: Speak to Singer and his kin by sharing a wish for whales and the future of our planet's oceans. Or, celebrate yourself or a loved one with a personalized dedication. Adoptees will be recognized in association with their adopted bone for the duration of the exhibit at the Vashon Center for the Arts (2026 - 2031) through recognition on the digital kiosk display adjacent to the articulated whale skeleton, on the Vashon Nature Center website, or in newsletters. 

Commemorate Singer's Story! Inspire Wonder! Invoke Stewardship for our Whale Kin!

Adopt A Bone Today

Make a General Donation

Singer's Story:

Vashon Nature Center's gray whale project is the latest example of how we strategically spur to action to take advantage of the unexpected gifts nature presents. It all began in April 2024, when a 39.5-foot male gray whale beached on a remote island shoreline. He had died of starvation at the end of an unusual mortality event for grey whales, something that is becoming less and less unusual with climate change in our oceans.

Since his arrival: 

• We contacted local Tribal partners, obtained a permit from NOAA, and formed an expansive network of experts to help with the enormous process of restoring a whale.
• Hundreds of people visited Singer during his 6 months on the beach to pay their respects. 

• Over 40 Whale Ambassadors volunteers contributed nearly 500 hours of support. 

• An 8th-grader digitally scanned all 164 bones, and 150 high school students studied the bones to learn about whale anatomy and biological illustration with island artist Annie Brule. 

• Singer's bones have been treated with a museum-grade protective coating. 

• Island artist, Ela Lamblin, has been contracted to create an articulated skeleton sculpture.

• Our partners at the Vashon Center of the Arts will house the island icon for the next five years!