This has never been seen alive, no one knows how many specimens there are, what they eat or how they live their lives in the Pacific Ocean. But now, what is usually described as the world's rarest whale may have washed up on New Zealand.
A five-meter-long creature, a type of beaked whale, has washed up on a beach near Otago on New Zealand. The dead animal is believed to be a mesoplodon traversii – a species that the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) categorizes as "insufficiently studied".
The whale was identified through its color pattern and the shape of its skull, beak, and teeth.
We know very little, practically nothing, about those creatures, says Hannah Hendriks, an advisor at the New Zealand animal welfare authority.
Not confirmed
It has not yet been confirmed that it is indeed a mesoplodon traversii that has washed up on the beach. But if it is, it is the first time researchers will have the opportunity to dissect and thus learn more about the mammal.
This will lead to incredible research and entirely new information, says Hendriks.
Bones from the whale species were found on New Zealand for the first time in the 1870s, then in the 1950s and 1986 on a Chilean island. DNA confirmed in 2002 that the three specimens were from the same species and that they differed from other beaked whales. It was then unclear whether the animal was extinct or not.
In 2010, two dead whales washed up on New Zealand. They were buried after being mistaken for another type of beaked whale, and only after confirmed tissue samples did it become clear that they were two specimens of mesoplodon traversii.
Even in 2017, a dead whale stranded on New Zealand, which means that there are now a total of six documented specimens of the species ever found.
To be tested
The whale that has now washed up was quickly taken to a cold room, and researchers will plan with local Maori groups how to examine the whale. DNA testing the carcass can take months.
For the indigenous people, the whale is a taonga, a sacred symbol of cultural significance.
