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Beached Whale On Cape Has Gigantic Swollen Tongue

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May 22, 2009 9:12 am US/Eastern

Beached Whale On Cape Has Gigantic Swollen Tongue

PROVINCETOWN (WBZ) ―

Click to enlarge 1 of 1: Sightseers examine a 40 foot finback whale that washed up on Herring Cove Beach in Provincetown. The large object on the left is the whale's swollen tongue.
David G. Curran/SatelliteNewsService.com

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Marine biologists are trying to figure out why an endangered finback whale washed up on a Provincetown beach and died.

It was found on Herring Cove Beach Thursday afternoon.

What really stands out is the whale's swollen tongue, which looks like a giant balloon sticking out of its mouth.

C.T. Harry of the International Fund for Animal Welfare told the Cape Cod Times the tongue was swollen by gas created in the decomposition process.

The whale is about 40 feet long and weighs about 10 tons.

Researchers weren't able to get close enough to it because of powerful winds and surf Thursday.

They're hoping to get a closer look Friday to figure out how it died.

There were no immediate plans for a full necropsy.

"You don't want an open carcass on the beach on a busy weekend," Harry told the paper.