"SID" was a 236 cm female Tursiops truncatus found floating in Lake Pontchartrain on Saturday, 3/15/1997 by Mr. Howard McCary of Slidell, LA. We arranged for the animal to be picked up on Thursday, 3/20/97, by two LMMSN volunteers, Allison Grande and Angela Langs. They returned with the animal around 7:00 pm that evening. A gross examination was conducted at that time and the animal was then stored at the LSU-SVM's anatomy laboratory to prepare for necropsy on 3/22/97.
All measurements were collected and the animal opened for internal examination. The uterus was enlarged and the cervix dilated, but no Corpus Luteum could be located. Teeth wear pattern indicate this animal to be middle aged. Upon removal of the skull, it was noted that the left occipital condyle was completely eroded and fused to the atlas, and the right condyle was partially eroded. During skull removal, two fish(1 -30 cm long) were removed from the esophagus. It was noted that the goosebeak had been pushed down by the fish and that the animal likely choked to death.
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