Calling for Pickup: Volunteers spring into action in the hopes that a necropsy and genetic tests can solve a mysterious epidemic of bottlenose dolphin deaths
SUBZERO STORAGE: This fridge at the Care Center contains various samples from tissue and organs that will be scrutinized for clues about the dolphin die-off.
INFECTION STOPPER: Whenever researchers move from one area to another at the Care Center they are sure to stop off at these mats covered in bleach solution to disinfect their shoes; they would not want to spread disease...
LUNG DAMAGE: A close-up image of lesions found on a dolphin lung during a necropsy at the Animal Care Center.
GETTING AN AGE: Dolphins’ teeth have growth rings, something like a tree’s, so researchers study them for clues about the stranded dolphins’ ages.
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LOOKING FOR CLUES: A researcher, on loan from New England, performs a necropsy of a dead dolphin at the Marine Animal Care Center. Necropsies typically take place in an outdoor tent.
SAMPLE COLLECTION: Three scientists parse the remains of a dead dolphin, gathering samples to study as it lies on the deck outside the necropsy tent at the Virginia Aquarium Marine Animal Care Center in Virginia Beach, Va...
TURTLES, TOO: The Stranding Team also is called on to rescue live sea turtles, like this one, and bring them back to researchers that nurse them back to health.
PULLEY TIME: Shirley Croft (left) and Paula Demosthenes (right) of the Stranding Team manage to transfer their dolphin cargo into the truck after boring a hole in its dorsal fine and threading a hook through...
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VOLUNTEER PICK-UPS: Shirley Croft (left) and Paula Demosthenes (right), members of the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center's Stranding Response Program team, manage to place a dead, male dolphin in their wheelbarrow, readying him to head back to the Marine Animal Care Center for a necropsy...
WASHED UP: Along the Virginia shore, more than 250 dolphins have washed ashore since July. This dead dolphin was found in September at a private beach in Hampton, Va.
![How to Collect a Dead Dolphin [Slide Show]](https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/632BD691-66F4-4B76-BCF8EDBF9ED5B4FE.jpg?w=590&h=393)
