Word: whaled
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...suicidal leviathan was a relatively rare sperm whale. Such whales have the biggest brains on the planet...
Marine biologists flocked to the site of the distressed whale when it was found in only 3 ft. of water near Long Island's Jones Beach. Its breathing was labored, mucus leaked from its blowhole, and it would surely have died. Though the creature was only three to six years old and far from full grown, it was already formidable. A 24-ft.-long male, it was, at 25,000 lbs., about as heavy as two full-grown elephants and just as powerful...
When Samuel Sadove, 25, a doctoral candidate in cetology (the study of whales), and Marine Veterinarian Jay Hyman, 46, tried to put a line around the animal's tail to haul it out to deeper water, the whale batted both men off their feet...
Eventually, a Coast Guard cutter managed to tow the whale to a nearby boat basin. It listed heavily to one side...
Tests on the mucus, which Hyman had collected by poking a giant Q-Tip into the blowhole, revealed four different types of pneumonia bacteria. The prospects seemed bleak. But scientists dosed the animal with penicillin and began serving it squid-a sperm whale favorite. Soon it started "sitting" higher in the water, raising its head and emitting the clicking sounds that sperms seem to use for communication or echo locating...