- The waters off our coast are teeming with wildlife, from birds, fish, dolphins, even whales.

That's what producer Seraphim Smith discovered when he was exploring Beaufort and came across the Bonehenge Whale Center.

- Recently, my friends invited me to sink my teeth into the Bonehenge Whale Center in Beaufort.

It's a multifunctional workshop for research, exhibit preparation, and hands-on education.

- For about the last 35 years, my wife and I and veterinarians and volunteers have been the North Carolina Marine Mammal Stranding Network.

We get the calls of dead, dying, and tangled marine mammals, and that's where these skeletons came from.

- An impressive amount of data is collected.

- I have five pages like this of data on this one whale.

- Wow.

- She was known when she was alive.

Her mother is known.

A little bit about her travel and associations is known.

And we have the entire skeleton, and a terrific necropsy was done, which determined the cause of death.

So we saved this skeleton to tell that story, and now we have this building in which to tell the story and display her.

- Let's head off by learning about the skull.

- Nostril is huge, and the right one is tiny, and the bones are shoved to the left.

That's predictable.

It's consistent.

The fetuses have it.

The calves have it.

Deeper divers have more asymmetrical skulls than shallow divers, and we don't know why.

And this is the fatty melon tissue.

- It's like a digestive system.

- It is, except it's spiral-shaped, and it has something to do with manipulating sound.

- Wow.

- And these people are starting to think that this is used for sound production, and this is used for respiration.

And these ear bones are positioned where these megaphones of a lower jaw open up.

So hold this.

Hold it, usually I put it in both ears and do the scratchy thing.

- Oh my goodness.

- Isn't that amazing?

- It's amazing.

- Wow, that's amazing.

- I want you to hold that.

Look at that polished surface and sort of wiggle it around.

- Oh.

- That's what I want you to see.

- Lines of a tree.

- Yes, like rings of a tree.

- Rings of a tree.

- Can you see them?

- Yeah, we think each line corresponds with a year of growth.

- It follows this.

- Yes, yes.

- However, some whales are toothless.

- They lack teeth, 'cause they are baleen whales.

- Baleen functions like a big water filter made of keratin, the stuff of our fingernails.

- Oh, look at this.

I always wondered where they were located.

- It's just in the upper jaw.

And inside the lower jaw and the throat is literally tons of water and terrified fish.

And the water gets out and the fish stay in.

- Wow, look at that.

- Plastic of the day.

Corsets stays, buggy whips, umbrella spreaders.

It takes a jaw-dropping amount of support from donors and volunteers to make Bonehenge happen.

My pal, Vic, is one such volunteer.

- This is when I first met Keith, and he said, "Hey, we're going out "and we're gonna dig up this whale's head.

"Do you wanna go?"

I was like, "Yeah, of course I wanna go."

Right, why wouldn't I?

And then he said, "Yeah, "but you're probably gonna have to throw your clothes away "when you're done."

- Tours are "orca-strated" by appointment only.

So make sure to "tail" them that you're coming.

This heart-touching experience is for people aged 14 and over.

I can't wait to come back and learn more.

- Bonehenge Whale Center is at 275 West Beaufort Road Extension in Beaufort.

It's important to plan your visit ahead of time by calling 252-528-8607, or go to their website at bonehenge.org to learn more.