Whale in rare sighting in Osaka confirmed dead

An estimated 15-meter-long sperm whale spotted near the mouth of the Yodo River in Osaka earlier this week was confirmed dead Friday, local officials said, after it had remained in the same spot for days and was not observed spouting water.Workers of the Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan in the western Japan city had approached the large mammal by boat to check if it was still alive, while Tsutomu Tamura of the Tokyo-based Institute of Cetacean Research said that the blowhole that the whale would use to breathe had been submerged underwater since Wednesday.The sighting of the whale -- nicknamed "Yodo…READ FULL ARTICLE