Only seven of its kind have ever been observed, making it the rarest whale in the world. About the mysterious species, very little is known. However, a tiny team of New Zealand scientists and cultural specialists gathered around a nearly flawlessly preserved spade-toothed whale on Monday in an attempt to unravel decades of mystery.
The senior marine science consultant for New Zealand’s conservation agency, Anton van Helden, who gave the spade-toothed whale its name to set it apart from other beaked species, exclaimed with excitement, “I can’t tell you how extraordinary it is.” It’s unbelievable to me personally.
It was Van Helden’s first time taking part in a dissection of the spade-toothed whale, despite his 35 years of studying beaked whales. The species, which washed ashore dead on a beach in New Zealand in July, is actually the subject of the first-ever in-depth investigation.
At sea, none have ever been spotted alive.
Scientists have a longer list of things they don’t know about spade-toothed whales than they do about them. They have no idea what the whales’ brains look like, where they reside in the ocean, or why they are so frequently seen in the wild. The stomach systems of all beaked whales differ, and scientists are unsure of how the spade-toothed species breaks down its food. They have no idea how this one passed away.
At an agricultural research station close to Dunedin, researchers are hoping to learn more about the 5-meter (16-foot) male over the course of the next week.
Van Helden, who was excited about the prospect of discovering how the species makes sound and what it consumes, stated that there might be parasites that are entirely new to science that simply reside in this whale. Who knows what we might find?
The six last spade-toothed whales that have ever been located were all buried before their identities could be confirmed by DNA testing.
The Department of Conservation reports that since 1840, more than 5,000 instances of whale stranding have occurred in New Zealand, making it a hotspot for the phenomenon. In 1872, the first bones of a spade-toothed whale were discovered on Pitt Island in New Zealand. The bones of a third were discovered on Chile’s Robinson Crusoe Island in 1986, while another was discovered at an offshore island in the 1950s.
In 2002, DNA sequencing demonstrated that the three remains belonged to the same species and were different from other beaked whales. However, until two complete spade-toothed whales, both dead, turned ashore on a New Zealand beach in 2010, scientists studying the mammal were unable to determine whether the species was extinct. However, none have previously been examined.
Surrounded by white-aproned experts taking measurements and taking pictures, the seventh of its kind on Monday seemed largely undamaged and offered no indication of its demise. According to researchers, cookiecutter shark marks are natural and not the reason.
Because the dissection is being done in collaboration with M ori, New Zealand’s Indigenous people, it will be quiet, systematic, and slower than usual. Whales are regarded by M ori as a taonga, or priceless treasure, and will be handled with the same respect as an ancestor.
In order to impart traditional knowledge and observe practices, such as saying a karakia, or prayer, over the creature before the research starts, members of the local iwi, or tribe, will be present throughout the dissection and consulted at every stage.
This whale is a gift from Tangaroa, the ocean deity, according to our beliefs and customs, according to Tumai Cassidy of the local Te R nanga t kou. It is crucial that we recognize the whale and treat its gift with respect.
After the whale is dissected, the iwi will save the jawbone and teeth before the skeleton is put on display at a museum. Using a CT image of the whale’s skull that was taken this week, those portions will be replicated via 3D printing.
According to Cassidy, it all helps to provide a more complete picture of that species and reveals how it interacts with our waters.
The immense Southern Pacific Ocean, which has some of the deepest ocean trenches in the world, is believed to be home to spade-toothed whales. The enigma is increased by the fact that spade-toothed whales may not surface very often, while beaked whales are the ocean’s deepest divers seeking food.
Several of the experts who gathered on Monday had come from overseas to view the whale, which was placed in chilled storage upon its discovery.
According to Joy Reidenberg, a comparative anatomist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, we are interested in both how these animals lived and how they died. We hope to learn things from their way of life that we can then apply to the human predicament.
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