In Ubetuba, Brazil, there's a grassy strip of land wedged between the road and the ocean.

This plaza has held a few different names over time.

But today...

The people gave their names way to the square.

Wheel square.

And it's called that because there's a massive skeleton of a humpback whale mounted on

these towering iron poles, its mouth slightly open as it faces oncoming traffic.

And if you were driving by, you might dismiss it as a roadside attraction, or a 55-foot-long

strategy to get people into the nearby aquarium.

But there's a story here, actually, too.

For whale, these bones once belonged to, its fate is believed to be linked to another.

Their stories distinct but intertwined in the sky and in the sea, in life and in death

and in the grey place between.

I'm Abby Peralt, and this is Atlas Obscura, a daily celebration of the world's strange,

incredible, and wondrous places.

Today, we'll dig into the tales of two whales, washing ashore along the southeastern

coast of Brazil.

And we'll hear how one became a scientific marvel, and the other a local landmark.

After this.

One summer day, Ugo Galo got a call.

We was called to rescue this whale in 2000, this young whale humpback whale.

When someone calls in, a whale in distress, along the coast of Sao Paulo, Ugo is often the

...