Scientists dissect worlds rarest whale, reveal cause of death and more remarkable findings

Scientists suspect the first complete specimen ever recorded of the world’s rarest whale died from head injuries, an expert said Friday.The first dissection of a spade-toothed whale, a type of beaked whale, was completed last week after a painstaking examination at a research center near the New Zealand city of Dunedin, the local people who led the scientific team, Te Rūnanga Ōtākou, said in a statement issued by the New Zealand Department of Conservation.A near-perfectly preserved 16-foot male was found washed up on a South Island beach in July.It was the first complete specimen ever recorded.There have only been seven known sightings and never of a living spade-toothed whale.New Zealand conservation agency beaked whale expert Anton van Helden said the whale’s broken jaw and bruising to the head and neck led scientists to believe that head trauma may have caused its death.“We don’t know, but we suspect there must have been some sort of trauma, but what caused that could be anyone’s guess,” van Helden said in a statement.All varieties of beaked whales have different stomach systems and researchers didn’t know how the spade-toothed type processed its food.The scientific team found the specimen had nine stomach chambers containing remnants of squid and parasitic worms, the statement said.Among the more interesting finds were tiny vestigial teeth in the upper jaw.“These little teeth embedded in the gum tells us something about their evolutionary history.

It’s remarkable to see this and it’s just another thing that we had no idea about,” van Helden said.“It’s a week I’ll never forget in my life, it’s certainly a highlight and it’s the start of the storytelling around this beautiful animal,” van Helden added.The dissection was also notable because scientists and curators worked together with local Māori people to incorporate Indigenous knowledge and customs into each step of the process.Following the dissection, the local iwi, o...