Photo: Collected
The body of a spade-toothed whale -- a species so rare it has never been seen alive -- appears to have washed up on a New Zealand beach, scientists say. The remains of the obscure, five-metre (16.4 foot) long, beaked creature were found near a river mouth in southern Otago province on July 4, government researchers said.
A DNA investigation has been launched to confirm its classification, the scientists said.
"Spade-toothed whales are one of the most poorly known large mammalian species of modern times," said the conservation department's coastal Otago operations manager, Gabe Davies.
"Since the 1800s, only six samples have ever been documented worldwide, and all but one of these was from New Zealand," Davies said in a statement Monday.
"From a scientific and conservation point of view, this is huge."
The find was fresh enough to offer the first opportunity for a spade-toothed whale to be dissected, the conservation department said.
The species is "so rare next to nothing is known about them", it said.
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