July 18, 2007—A humpback whale with a tongue swollen to the size of a small car has been found on the rocky shores of Admiralty Island in southeast Alaska (see Alaska map).

Scientists believe that a collision forced air into the male humpback's tongue and caused it to swell. A ship could be responsible for the death of the 40-foot (12-meter) whale, which was found last week.

"It is certainly possible that it was a ship strike, but that's still inconclusive," Aleria Jensen, a scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Alaska, told the Associated Press.