Whale stranding and death in Marin County, CA gives marine biologists rare opportunity

"Twelve hours after it was first reported stranded alive on a beach just north of San Francisco, a 42-foot-long fin whale tumbled into its oceanside grave – a large and sandy pit, quickly excavated near the back of the beach." A rare and recent fin whale stranding, in which the creature was still alive when its body reached shore, gave scientists the "extremely rare opportunity to perform an necropsy on a fresh whale carcass." [Wired Science]