POINT MUGU : Tests Try to Pinpoint What Killed Whale
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Scientists from Point Mugu will conduct tests today to determine the cause of death of an 83-foot-long blue whale that washed ashore at San Nicolas Island, base officials said.
Point Mugu Naval Air Warfare Center spokeswoman Marge Hays said the whale was already partly decomposed when Navy personnel discovered it early Tuesday on a beach at the island.
Biologists from Point Mugu’s environmental department will take tissue samples from the whale to pinpoint what killed the animal, she said.
Located 60 miles off the coast from Point Mugu, San Nicolas Island is a key part of the Navy base’s extensive ocean range for testing missiles.
Staffed by about 200 military and civilian employees from Point Mugu, the island is the site of about $30 million in Navy communications and radar equipment.
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