Fin whales are the second-largest whale species, smaller only than blue whales. Fast swimmers that can eat two tons of food a day, they grow up to 85 feet long, weigh 40 to 80 tons and live for 80 ...

NOAA researchers last had eyes on the whale on Dec. 23. At that time, her body was disintegrating but had a long way to go. After all, the fin whale is the second-largest mammal on earth.

Since washing ashore in mid-November, scientists have harvested samples of everything from a fin whale, from the animal's heart, blubber, skin, baleen and lung.

People across the UK are being invited to take part in nationwide effort to spot whales, dolphins and porpoises.

The left eye of a dead fin whale was frozen shut prior to a necropsy on Monday, Nov. 18, 2024. (Bill Roth / ADN) A dead fin whale rests on the frozen mudflats near Anchorage on Monday, Nov. 18, 2024.

Rouse is a necropsy biologist with Alaska Veterinary Services, and she’s part of a team trying to learn more about the young fin whale that washed up dead last weekend near downtown Anchorage.