Beluga whale's carcass baffles Alaska scientists

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Scientists are mystified at the carcass of a young beluga whale found in the Tanana River in central Alaska, nearly 1,000 miles from its natural ocean habitat.

The first guess is the 8-foot-long whale, which often feed on fish in estuaries and the mouths of rivers, swam away from the ocean in search of food.

"What are the alternatives?" asked Link Olson, curator of the University of Alaska Museum of the North.

It was highly unlikely that someone was perpetrating a hoax along a remote section of river with a whale carcass, he said.

"If you were ever close to a dead marine mammal, even for a few hours, you would know why no one in their right mind would do that."