Meet Manaia! - College of Charleston Libraries

Meet Manaia, the 20-foot Dorudon atrox skeleton suspended over the rotunda of Addlestone Library! Dorudon, meaning “spear-tooth,” patrolled the prehistoric coast of South Carolina around 36 million years ago and was among the first fully marine whales. This particular cast is based on skeletons excavated in Egypt’s “Valley of the Whales” and previously resided in San Francisco’s Discovery Channel Store before being acquired by paleoichthyologist Douglas J. Long. Long named it “Manaia,” after a mythological creature in Māori culture—a guardian against evil and a messenger between the world of the living and the dead—and displayed it in his Tiki Bar for 15 years. In December 2019, Manaia was installed in Addlestone Library through the efforts of marine mammal paleontologist Robert Boessenecker and his wife, Sarah Boessenecker. Today, Manaia watches over Addlestone Library, inspiring curiosity about the deep history of marine life and the ancient world.

Learn more about Manaia’s journey here!