A fossil whale skull encased in plaster was nearly lifted by helicopter Wednesday from Aliso Creek, but the helicopter pilot gave up when load, as much as 4,000 pounds, proved too heavy. 

“It’s hard to make whales fly,” joked Meredith Staley, a paleontologist with the environmental consulting firm, LSA Associates Inc.

But the consultants and officials from OC Public Works vowed to try again.

“It won’t beat us,” said LLoyd Sample of LSA. (See video of the attempted airlift.)

The unexpectedly heavy load wasn’t just the skull, believed to be that of a right whale that died about 5 million years ago. The skull is surrounded by rock, and is part of a trove of embedded fossils that could open a window into a long-vanished time, when much of Orange County was on the ocean floor.

With the whale skull are dolphin remnants, including a rare fossil flipper, as well as parts of animals from the seal and sea lion group and shark’s teeth.

The fossils also are encased in a jacket of protective plaster. (Shown at left; photos by Steve Zylius.)

The attempted airlift created a minor sensation near Creekside and El Toro Road in the late morning Wednesday. Orange County sheriff’s deputies blocked off streets and a small crowd gathered to watch the operation.

The plan was to hoist the whale skull out of its resting place and deposit it in the bed of a nearby truck. Then, it would be taken to the county’s fossil warehouse.

But after a few attempts that moved the giant load but failed to loft it into the air, the pilot of a private helicopter owned by Airlift Construction Services abandoned the attempt.

The load might have to be lightened by removing material from it. County officials It was uncertain when another attempt will be made.

Before the fossil was removed, an opening in the skull was visible where it jutted above the creek bed; the fossil was lying in a section of creek the that appeared to be almost in an undisturbed natural state, except for bits of garbage here and there that had floated downstream.

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Posted in: Wildlife and the natural world • airlift • Aliso Creek • dolphins • Fossil whale • palenotologist • right whale • shark's teeth • whale skull |

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