 The whale is tall and long, and was not fully grown when she washed ashore at Fiddlers Cove near Pescadero on September 6, 1979.Shortly after discovery, biologists and students from UC Santa Cruz began "flensing" (removing flesh and blubber) from the whale, with the whole process taking about a month to complete.Transported by helicopter and truck to the marine lab, the skeleton lay in a grassy field just downwind of lab buildings for over a year before being buried.