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TIGNISH, P.E.I. - The bones of a massive blue whale that died 20 years ago off Prince Edward Island are being laid bare in a unique project to preserve one of the largest creatures ever to live on Earth.

Scientists and a small army of diggers began the grim work Saturday of pulling apart the remains of a 27-metre-long female blue whale in preparation for transport to a new museum in British Columbia where she will be the star attraction.

Although the whale was a queen of the seas during her lifetime, she is now a large jigsaw puzzle as her bones are dissected and numbered for restoration once they arrive in B.C.

The atmosphere at the dig site near Tignish in western Prince Edward island is tinged with excitement and with the nauseating odour of rotting flesh.

Project leader Andrew Trites of the University of British Columbia said no one predicted so much of the whale would remain after two decades of burial, and it is making the task of separating the bones more difficult and much smellier.

"Most of the whale is now unburied and we're removing it bone by bone, starting from the tail end," Trites said in an interview.

"The toughest part is on the tail. There's a surprising amount of meat still on the animal so they're finding it very tough cutting."

The blue whale, longer than two buses, is believed to be the largest creature that has ever existed.

The whales were abundant in nearly all oceans until the beginning of the 20th century. They were hunted almost to extinction by whalers until protected by the international community in 1966.

It's now believed there are no more than 12,000 blue whales worldwide and Trites says they are extremely endangered.

He said the numbers in the Atlantic are in the low 100s and in British Columbia, the highest number reported in the last five decades is five animals.

"I hate to think this is the closest I'll ever get to a blue whale - standing on the back of one that died 20 years ago," Trites said. "In all the time I've spent in the water, I've yet to see one in British Columbia and it shouldn't be.

"Hopefully, this will open peoples' eyes to just how close we came to losing them forever."

Pierre-Yves Daoust, a professor of wildlife pathology at the Atlantic Veterinary College in Charlottetown, was on the Island when the whale washed up dead on the beach.

He said he is hoping to discover why she died and also whether she was carrying a calf at the time of her death - information that could be gleaned once more of the midsection of the whale is revealed.

The last section of the whale to be removed from the red earth of the Island will be the enormous head, and Daoust said that will be a major challenge.

"In contrast to other portions of the skeleton, where you can separate bones from each other and they end up being manageable, the head is one big piece," he said.

"It will be difficult to handle without damaging it. That will be a challenge."

The skeleton will be the centrepiece of the Beaty Biodiversity Museum, currently under construction at the University of British Columbia.

It will be the first such exhibit in Canada and one of only four blue whale skeletons on display in North America.

Trites says he hopes to have the whale completely exhumed by Monday.

A refrigerated CN container is on site, ready to take the remains to British Columbia.

"I'm sure Canadians from coast to coast will recognize it by the flock of sea gulls following it from P.E.I.," Trites said.