Los Angeles ? A dead blue whale found floating in the Santa Barbara Channel is drifting toward the same area where another dead blue whale beached last week, as scientists delve into the deepening mystery of the massive creatures’ deaths off the Southern California coast.

This time, scientists say they don’t plan to wait for the whale to beach naturally. Eager to examine the whale’s tissue while it’s fresh, they were making plans Friday to tow the carcass to a beach and were trying to determine the best place to bring it ashore.

Biologists hope an examination of the whale, thought to be a 60-foot female, will help ferret out the reasons behind the deaths of at least three blue whales in the last two weeks.