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Why Did This Whale Turn up Dead in San Francisco? | BBC Earth

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0:04We heard that a whale had been found

0:05dead 3 hours north of where we were

0:07staying. Joy arrives to join a big team

0:10that's gathering. [music]

0:13When dead whales turn up in San

0:15Francisco, they're towed to this

0:17uninhabited island. [music]

0:19The remains of other dead whales litter

0:21the shores. [music]

0:23>> First priority is why did this animal

0:25die?

0:26If we don't know why it died, we can't

0:28do anything about it. But [music] we

0:29can't stop it. If we lose those

0:31opportunities, then we may lose the

0:33species

0:35because we will have missed the warning

0:37signs. The red flags are all there, but

0:39we have to find them. So, [music] it's a

0:41crime scene. First, we got to understand

0:43why the whale died.

0:46Once that's established, the next order

0:48of business is scientific collection.

0:51This is this is the saddest part of all

0:53because it's a female and a fairly young

0:56female. Fin whales are an endangered

0:59species. This young female would have

1:02had many years of life and many calves

1:05ahead of her.

1:07[music]

1:09A big team has gathered to do a thorough

1:11necropsy. It will take many hours in the

1:14hot sun to find out what killed her.

1:18>> Joy has a suspicion that something big

1:21hit this whale, and she's looking for

1:23proof.

1:24The layer underneath that muscle should

1:26look like this. Should be kind of

1:28whitish yellow. This is not normal.

1:30That's a bruise,

1:31>> right?

1:32>> And bruising would indicate that it was

1:34bleeding. And bleeding indicates it was

1:35alive when it was struck.

1:36>> And if you look over here,

1:38>> that's rust from the boat.

1:39>> That is like probably the site of the

1:41main impact right here.

1:43>> Joy needs more evidence to prove it was

1:45a ship. So, the team dig deeper.

1:49Finally, the team exposed the spine. But

1:52it's not all where it should be.

1:55>> But this one's been pushed out of

1:57position so much so that it's up against

1:59the rib. Should be in the middle of the

2:01whale. It shouldn't be up against the

2:02rib. This is crazy. That's a massive

2:04amount of pressure. And it also means

2:06that the whale was really snapped in

2:08half.

2:08>> You just don't think of whales as things

2:09that snap.

2:11>> They shouldn't.

2:12>> Yeah.

2:12>> What would normally hit a whale that

2:14hard? There's nothing bigger than a

2:15whale in nature and then comes along a

2:17ship and doesn't know how to handle

2:18that. I don't think this was done on

2:20purpose. Yeah,

2:21>> it's it's more that I'm sad. I'm sad

2:23that it happens. I'm angry that we

2:25haven't been able to do something about

2:26it to stop it. A tragedy more than

2:29anything else. It's tragedy.

2:35>> The necropsy complete. The remains of

2:38the whale are left for scavengers

2:42and Joy and the team head home.