Gallery: Unusual Whale Stranding Gives Scientists Rare Opportunity

  • Dead Whale
    01

    dead-whale

    *Photo: Alex Washburn/WIRED*
  • Necropsy
    02

    necropsy-2

    *The first steps include removing much of the whale's blubber. (Photo: Nadia Drake/WIRED)*
  • Cutting
    03

    cutting

    *Slicing into the blubber. Below, onlookers watch the necropsy while a sea gull sneaks in for a bite of discarded flesh.* [![](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/images_blogs/wiredscience/2013/08/IMG_2973.jpg "IMG_2973")](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/images_blogs/wiredscience/2013/08/IMG_2973.jpg) (*Photos: Nadia Drake/WIRED*)
  • Removing
    04

    removing

    *The team used large hooks to separate the blubber from the whale, a process that involved some intense physical activity. (Photo: Nadia Drake/WIRED)*
  • Stomach
    05

    stomach

    *Collecting fluid from the stomach. (Photo: Nadia Drake/WIRED)*
  • Bags
    06

    bags

    *The team gets ready to bag bits of kidney. (Photo: Nadia Drake/WIRED)*
  • Kidney
    07

    kidney

    *Collecting part of the kidney, which looks like a pebbled structure. (Photo: Nadia Drake/WIRED)*
  • Struggles
    08

    struggles

    *At one point, the excavator nearly tipped over while trying to drag the whale farther up the beach. Rolling the carcass worked much better. (Photo: Nadia Drake/WIRED)*
  • Eye
    09

    eye

    *Scientists collected both eyes from the whale. Here's the right one. Below, a seagull stands near the spot where the whale's left eye used to be.* [![](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/images_blogs/wiredscience/2013/08/IMG_2949.jpg "IMG_2949")](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/images_blogs/wiredscience/2013/08/IMG_2949.jpg) (*Photos: Nadia Drake/WIRED*)
  • Esophagus
    10

    esophagus

    *Yes, you could fit inside a whale's mouth. (Photo: Nadia Drake/WIRED)*
  • Last light
    11

    last-light

    *Scientists get ready to roll the whale toward its grave.*
  • Rolling the whale
    12

    rolling-the-whale

    *After rolling the whale, scientists needed the excavator's help teasing the intestines from the carcass. (Photo: Nadia Drake/WIRED)*
  • A last look
    13

    a-last-look

    *After rolling it up the beach, and before burying the whale, researchers climbed into the animal's thorax, looking for any clues they might have missed. (Photo: Nadia Drake/WIRED)*
  • Burial
    14

    burial

    *The whale is pushed into its sandy grave. (Photo: Nadia Drake/WIRED)*
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