Traditionally, the gift for a first anniversary is something paper.

For a second anniversary, it's cotton, a third anniversary, it's leather.

But what about your 32nd anniversary?

If you're Hugh Davis and his wife, Zelta Davis, you go big.

A 20-foot tall, 80-foot-long, two-story blue whale on the side of Route 66.

That kind of big.

I'm Dylan Thuris, and this is Atlas Obscira,

a celebration of the world's strange, incredible, and wondrous places.

And after the break, we're taking you to Catusa, Oklahoma,

where we find out the backstory of what just might be the greatest anniversary gift ever.

That's after this. A few years ago, I was in Tulsa, and there was a place that I knew I had to go.

It was a little bit out on Route 66, but it was this incredible, amazing location.

This two-story whale sort of perched over the edge of a pond

with this little smiling mouth. And I had always wanted to see it. It is just this iconic object,

this iconic building, the blue whale of Catusa. But to understand why it's there, how it got made, and the beautiful love story behind it,

you first need to understand Hugh and Zelda Davis.

So basically, Hugh Davis began as the park director for the Tulsa Zoo.

That's Liz Huckleby. She is a native of Catusa, Oklahoma, and the current director of the

Blue Whale of Catusa. He was actually one of the first directors in, I believe, the 40s.

And after he retired from Tulsa Zoo, he came over here to Route 66 and Catusa.

This was their family land and he started Nature's Acres, which was a small zoo with animals,

reptiles.

...