Located in the Nam-gu district of Ulsan, the Jangsaengpo Whale Museum is the only institution in South Korea devoted entirely to the history of whaling and the conservation of marine life. Its exhibits trace how the area rose to prominence as a major whaling center, while also encouraging visitors to think about why protecting ocean wildlife matters today.
Among the specimens on display is the skeleton of a common bottlenose dolphin, part of a much larger holding of cetacean remains that includes Bryde’s whales, killer whales, gray whales, and finless porpoises (Neophocaena), alongside tools and objects tied to the region’s whaling past. Altogether, the museum’s holdings run to roughly 1,800 items between artifacts and historical documents, forming a broad and educational look at cetacean life.
• Bottlenose dolphin
• Delfín mular
• 큰돌고래
Scientific Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Delphinidae
Genus: Tursiops
Few marine mammals are as familiar to the public as the bottlenose dolphin. Built with a sturdy frame and a short, well-defined beak, it moves in tight social groups and turns up in nearly every temperate and tropical ocean on Earth, from shallow coastal shelves to open water far from shore. Much of what scientists know about dolphin cognition comes from this species, given how readily it engages with human observers and how often it becomes the subject of behavioral research.
Taxonomically, the genus Tursiops has been reshuffled considerably in recent years. What was once treated as a single, fairly uniform species turned out, under closer genetic and anatomical scrutiny, to contain real divisions: Tursiops aduncus, the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin, is now widely accepted as its own species rather than a variant of T. truncatus. Even within T. truncatus, researchers distinguish two broad ecotypes — a smaller-bodied coastal form suited to shallow water, and a bulkier pelagic form built to handle colder temperatures and deeper dives.
Jangsaengpo Whale Museum (장생포 고래 박물관), Nam-gu, Ulsan, South Korea
Camera: Canon EOS 800D / Rebel T7i / Kiss X9i
Lens: TAMRON SP 28-75mm F/2.8 Di A09E
Capture Information:
Focal Length: 63.0 mm
Shutter Speed: 1/80
Aperture: f/2.8
ISO: 4000
Photo Taken: April 27, 2025
High resolution
Flickr Gallery