Whale That Washed Up on Beach Could Be World's Rarest

Precious little is known about the spade-toothed whale
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jul 15, 2024 12:27 PM CDT
Could This Dead Whale Unlock a Species' Secrets?
Department of Conservation rangers Jim Fyfe and Tumai Cassidy walk alongside what is believed to be a rare spade-toothed whale, on July 5, 2024, after its was found washed ashore on a beach near Otago, New Zealand.   (Department of Conservation via AP)

Spade-toothed whales are the world's rarest, with no live sightings ever recorded. No one knows how many there are, what they eat, or even where they live in the vast expanse of the southern Pacific Ocean. However, scientists in New Zealand may have finally caught a break, reports the AP. The country's conservation agency said Monday a creature that washed up on a South Island beach this month is believed to be a spade-toothed whale. The roughly 16-feet-long creature, a type of beaked whale, was identified after it washed ashore on an Otago beach from its color patterns and the shape of its skull, beak, and teeth.

If the cetacean is confirmed to be the elusive spade-toothed whale, it would be the first specimen found in a state that would permit scientists to dissect it, allowing them to map the relationship of the whale to the few others of the species found, learn what it eats, and perhaps lead to clues about where they live. Nothing is currently known about the whales' habitat. The creatures deep-dive for food and likely surface so rarely that it has been impossible to narrow their location further than the southern Pacific Ocean, home to some of the world's deepest ocean trenches.

Only six other spade-toothed whales have ever been pinpointed, and those found intact on New Zealand's North Island beaches were buried before DNA testing could verify their identification, says Hannah Hendriks, marine technical adviser for the Department of Conservation, thwarting any chance to study them. This time, the beached whale was quickly transported to cold storage. The conservation agency said the genetic testing to confirm the whale's identification could take months.

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The first spade-toothed whale bones were found in 1872 on New Zealand's Pitt Island. Another discovery was made at an offshore island in the 1950s, and the bones of a third were found on Chile's Robinson Crusoe Island in 1986. DNA sequencing in 2002 proved that all three specimens were of the same species—and that it was one distinct from other beaked whales. Researchers studying the mammal couldn't confirm if the species went extinct. Then in 2010, two whole spade-toothed whales, both dead, washed up on a New Zealand beach. Tissue samples taken after they were buried revealed them as the enigmatic species.

(More discoveries stories.)

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