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A beached sperm whale was spotted in Madeira Beach near John's Pass Thursday morning, according to reports.A beached sperm whale will be put to sleep after it was spotted in Madeira Beach near John's Pass Thursday morning, according to reports. The Florida Wildlife Commission was investigating just how the 30-foot whale became stranded about 20 yards from shore, reported NBC affiliate WFLA. Officials told WFLA the whales never go so close the shore unless they are in duress. In this case, wildlife officials determined the most humane thing to do was to end the whale's suffering. Erin Fougeres with the...

GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) -- An Oregon highway engineer who blew up a dead beached whale with a half-ton of dynamite in 1970 has died at the age of 84. George Thomas Thornton gained national attention over the exploding whale, and the act endured for decades thanks to a video that shows giant pieces of whale carcass splattering across the beach and spectators. Thornton got the call Nov. 12, 1970 to remove a 45-foot-long sperm whale estimated to weigh 8 tons that had washed up near Florence, and had started to stink. At the time, the state Highway Division had...

A rare whale that has a dolphin-shaped head and saber-like teeth has been found dead on Los Angeles' Venice Beach, even though it prefers frigid subarctic waters. The roughly 15-foot-long female Stejneger's beaked whale washed ashore Tuesday night, the Los Angeles Times reported. A truck hauled away the mammal, which was being examined at the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum to determine how it died. The Stejneger's beaked whale is rarely seen in the wild. The species typically dives deep in subarctic waters to feed on squid and small fish. It is believed to migrate as far south as...

Meghan McCain said she respects the Republican Party, but wants to make clear: Some GOPers are crazy rednecks. She’s just not one of them. In an interview with Politico, she also tried to make clear that she’s not a voice for young Republicans. “I don’t espouse myself to be the voice of young Republicans at all

<p>Officials are still trying to sort out what to do about a dead 40-foot fin whale that washed ashore last week in Malibu, creating a big stink.</p> <p>The spit of sand is at the foot of a towering cliff, below Barbara Streisand's neighborhood that features massive estates of groomed lawns, swimming pools and tennis courts.</p>

Famed explorer Robert Ballard's expedition over the Eratosthenes Seamount is currently collecting images during sweeps of the area using the latest technology to explore the sea floor some 70 miles off the island. After two days of exploring, the team's underwater robots, operating at 800 to 1,000 metres, yesterday reached the summit of the Eratosthenes, going over terrain from a previous sweep and then turned west to head to unexplored territory to the west. On Friday night they came across what appeared to be fossilised rib bones commentators suggested might have come from a whale, perhaps even 40,000 years old......

The world's largest fish, it turns out, is also a clever thief -- and a gluttonous one. Conservation International recently posted a video showing a large whale shark stealing small fish that in a way is being stolen from it by commercial fishermen. The amazing footage, captured off Indonesia's Cenderawasih Bay, shows how the shark has learned to literally suck fish from small holes in a platform net. Whale sharks, which inhabit the tropical seas around the world (except the Mediterranean), are pelagic filter-feeders that generally subside on plankton and small, schooling fish. They measure up to about 40 feet...

The headline-grabbing all-white adult killer whale spotted off Russia this month may well be one of a kind. But the sighting may not be the first time he's been caught on camera. Scientists were studying acoustic and social interactions among whales and dolphins off the North Pacific's Commander Islands (map) when the team noticed a six-foot-tall (nearly two-meter-tall) white dorsal fin jutting above the waves—hence the whale's new name: Iceberg. "The reaction from the team for the encounter, which happened on an ordinary day for spotting and photographing the whales, was one of surprise and elation," researcher Erich Hoyt said...

At 9PM on January 26, 1700 one of the world's largest earthquakes occurred along the west coast of North America. The undersea Cascadia thrust fault ruptured along a 680 mile length, from mid Vancouver Island to northern California in a great earthquake, producing tremendous shaking and a huge tsunami that swept across the Pacific. The Cascadia fault is the boundary between two of the Earth's tectonic plates: the smaller offshore Juan de Fuca plate that is sliding under the much larger North American plate. The earthquake also left unmistakable signatures in the geological record as the outer coastal regions subsided...

Fossil Whale Brain Proves Paleontologist Wrong by Brian Thomas, M.S. | Jan. 27, 2012 Howell Thomas, senior paleontological preparator for the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, was skeptical when a woman claimed that she found a fossilized whale brain in San Luis Obispo County, California, nine years ago. "The first thing I said when I heard about this finding was that there's just no way," Thomas told the Beatrice Daily Sun. "They brought it in, and sure enough, it's the second of two fossil whale brains [ever found]."1 He explained that "it's an amazing specimen because brains don't...

A whale nearly swallowed two people on a kayak and a woman on a surfboard. The humpback whale lunged from out of nowhere just several feet away, forcing thousands of anchovies to the surface, with sea gulls swarming around the scene in search of breakfast. Barbara Roettger filmed the epic near-miss event near Santa Cruz, California where recently a sailboat collided with another humpback whale and at least one kayaker capsized. Oh, and for the record, humpback whales typically are about 50 feet long and weigh 50 tons. That’s a whopping 2000 pounds for every foot of whale. Short be...

Found this on a Czech website... a gem: From a Connecticut Sea-World wedding (not Irish I'd hazard to guess) where the mariachis suddenly noticed a rare Baluga White Whale really starting to get into it... ay caramba [YouTube] Video/more at Reaganite Republican

Passengers aboard the Manute'a got an eye full recently when an 80-foot blue whale surfaced alongside the boat, stole a breath and revealed its massive backside and fluke. But the best view was enjoyed by a paddleboarder who got breathtakingly close to the great leviathan (see video). This occurred last weekend off Dana Point, Calif., and the video, shot by David Anderson of Capt. Dave's Dolphin and Whale Safari, was posted this week. The paddleboarder appeared to be trying to capture underwater footage of the mammoth creature -- blue whales are the largest mammals ever to inhabit the planet --...

A humpback whale which was freed from almost certain death by three men off the coast of California repaid the favour to its rescuers with a breathtaking display of breaches and dives. The amazing hour-long performance was caught on camera moments after the creature was cut free from fishing nets. When the boat came across the whale it was trapped with its tail and flippers hopelessly entangled in the nets. Scroll down to watch video The whale watchers first thought the humpback was already dead as it was floating on top of the water. But then it let out a...

Flipping amazing... the moment a humpback whale 'thanks' rescuers who saved it from dying tangled in fishing nets A humpback whale which was freed from almost certain death by three men off the coast of California repaid the favour to its rescuers with a breathtaking display of breaches and dives. The amazing hour-long performance was caught on camera moments after the creature was cut free from fishing nets. When the boat came across the whale it was trapped with its tail and flippers hopelessly entangled in the nets. (photos & Video at link)

A whale that appeared to be dead washed ashore on Atlantic Beach, Long Island Wednesday. [snip] Typically, when dead mammals wash onto beaches, marine experts are brought in to assess the animal.

Protesters in Madison have "aroused a sleeping giant" in the national fight for workers' rights, filmmaker Michael Moore told thousands at the Capitol Square on Saturday, as rallies opposing Gov. Scott Walker's budget proposals wrapped up their third week.... "America is not broke ... Wisconsin is not broke," Moore said. "The only thing that's broke is the moral compass of the rulers." More at Wisconsin State Journal A "sleeping giant" was aroused?!? I'm confused, I'll explain why in Pulp Fiction style: First of all, boobs...check...liberal ideology....check...did I not just say a fat lady is singing? Second, assuming his skin...

Meghan McCain, daughter of U.S. Senator John McCain spoke at Indiana State University tonight. McCain shared her experience on the campaign trail with her father as well as where she sees the country going politically. One big goal of hers is to redefine republicanism."I have two theories. The first is in the next election Republicans will nominate a very extreme conservative. If that happens I think that the idea of a third party rising up could happen for the first time in history," McCain said.

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- There is a mystery for marine biologists out on San Francisco's Ocean Beach. On Monday morning, a badly decomposed whale washed ashore, but it's probably not a species we are used to hearing about in these waters. A 50-foot long, badly decomposed whale washed-up on the beach between the base of Lawton and Kirkham streets.

Delray man in custody after hacking tail off for foodA Delray Beach man is in custody after he reportedly tried to cut the tail off a whale that washed ashore early Thursday morning. Florida Fish and Wildlife agents are questioning James Hogan after he was found hacking away at the tail end of the whale, estimated to be between 10 and 12 feet long, according to the Palm Beach Post. "I didn't know it was illegal," Hogan told the Post, before he was hauled away. Hogan said he was fishing early Thursday morning when a passerby told him about the...