Jaw bones from Bowhead whale, West Beach.

These Bowhead wahel jaw bones are displayed from an old harvest on the west beach. In one photo, you can see the red roof top of our teacher's housing in the background. There is a considerable difference between whales hunted by the Siberian Yupik peoples out here in the Bering Sea zone those hunted by other aboriginal groups across the bering Straits that rely on the smaller Gray whale. The huge bowhead whale (weighing from 30 to 100 tons or more) provides more products than the Gray whale (commonly weighing up to 20-25 tons) and is of greater nutritional value. The Mantak (whale meat and blubber eaten together) of the Bowhead has a nice, sweat taste, especially if a young whale (inutuk). Inutuk can be stored raw for up to 20-25 days, while the Mantak of the Gray whale is unfit for consumption after 10-12 days (the skin separates from the fat). The meat of the Bowhead is softer and more tender. This meat, like walrus meat is soured and kept in meat pits for the winter whereas the Gray whale meat does not get sour, it rots. It can be stored, bolied or if there is need for long-term storage it has to be frozen