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Jeff Kinzel | all galleries >> Galleries >> Northwest Alaska and the Bering Sea > MukTuk for dinner
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02-JUN-2004

MukTuk for dinner

This is a few slabs of MukTuk cut from the body of a baby Gray Whale killed by a pod of Killer Whales off of Gambell,St.Lawrance Island Alaska,MukTuk is the outer layer of fat and skin and was about 3 inches thick, 1 inch of skin and 2 inches of Fat which is normally eaten raw, sliced thin and wrapped around some Tundra Greens, it's really quuite delicious. I actually got to watch this spectacle unfold about a hundred feet off shore.even being a baby it was still about 20-25 feet long I was told by some of the Elders that were on hand that the Orca's only eat the lower jaw and tongue and leave the rest. It took about 30 minutes for the Orca's takeing turn jumping the whale to drown it. After the Orca's had their fill some of the men went out in a skiff and towed the body back to shore where it was cut up and distributed among the village. This was a valuable resource of food for the entire Village and as the other Whales I was privliged to be present at their processing nothing but a red spot in the snow was left, every ounce was used for something.

FujiFilm FinePix A210 Zoom
1/750s f/7.0 at 5.5mm iso100 full exif

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