This is one super-sized mystery.
Researchers have begun a necropsy on a 35-foot-long humpback whale to try and figure out why it washed up Monday on the shores of a Long Island beach town.
Marine officials from the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance cut into the carcass Tuesday, stripping away the whale’s skin as they sought to find out what killed the male leviathan.
Images from the scene also show investigators using the bucket of a large excavator to lift one of the whale’s flippers as they hunted for clues.
Nassau County police said the whale was found at 6:30 a.m. Monday at Lido Beach West Town Park, which is in the town of Hempstead.
The whale was already dead when crews arrived, according to Hempstead Town officials.
The animal’s extraordinary size forced crews to use a crane to move it to higher ground, Hempstead Town Supervisor Don Clavin told News 12.
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Meanwhile, locals flocked to the scene to get a glimpse of what is a relatively rare occurrence in Hempstead. Clavin said the town hasn’t seen a beached whale in several years.
Researchers believe the animal weighs 32 tons and is about 5 years old, according to NBC New York.
The beaching comes as an unusual number of whales have washed up on beaches in the New York and New Jersey region over the past few weeks.
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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said 178 humpback whales have been stranded on the shores of 13 states on the eastern seaboard in the last eight years, NBC said.