WELLINGTON, New Zealand — This is the world's rarest whale, with only seven of its kind ever seen. Little is known about this mysterious species.
But on Monday, a small group of New Zealand scientists and cultural experts gathered around the nearly perfectly preserved Spade whale to try to decipher a decades-old mystery.
“Words can't express how extraordinary it is,” enthused Anton van Heerden, senior marine science adviser at the New Zealand Conservation Service. Anton van Heerden gave the whale this name to distinguish it from other whales. “For me personally, it's unbelievable.”
Van Helden has been studying beaked whales for 35 years, but Monday was the first time he participated in a dissection of the whale.
In fact, this is the first time in history that the creature, which washed up dead on a New Zealand coast in July, has been thoroughly investigated.
No one has ever seen one alive at sea.
The list of things scientists don't know about spade whales is longer than what they do know.
They don't know where whales live in the ocean, why whales aren't found in the wild, or what their brains look like.
All beaked whales have different stomach systems, and researchers don't know how spade-toothed whales process food. They don't know how this person died.
Researchers studying the 16-foot-long male at an agricultural research center near Dunedin hope to find out over the next week.
“This whale may be inhabited by a parasite that is completely new to science,” said van Heerden, excited by the chance to learn how this species makes sounds and what it eats. . “Who knows what we will discover?”
Only six other whales have been discovered so far, but all of the whales found intact were buried before their identities could be confirmed by DNA testing.
New Zealand is a hotspot for whale strandings, with more than 5,000 episodes recorded since 1840, according to the Department of Conservation.
The first spade whale bones were discovered in 1872 on Pitt Island, New Zealand.
Another discovery was made on an offshore island in the 1950s, and a third skeleton was discovered on Robinson Crusoe Island in Chile in 1986.
DNA sequencing in 2002 proved that all three specimens were the same species and distinct from other beaked whales.
But researchers studying this mammal were unable to confirm whether the species was extinct until 2010, when two spade whales washed up whole and dead on a New Zealand coast. However, nothing has been studied so far.
On Monday, the seventh individual of the species, surrounded by scientists in white aprons taking measurements and photographs, appeared relatively unharmed and there were no clues about its death.
Researchers noted evidence of cookie cutter sharks, but said this was normal and not the cause.
The dissections are quiet, methodical and slower than usual, as they are carried out in collaboration with New Zealand's indigenous Maori people.
For Māori, whales are taonga, or precious treasures, and the creatures are treated with respect for their ancestors.
Members of the local iwi (tribe) were present throughout the dissection and were consulted at every turn, sharing traditional knowledge and observing customs such as chanting karakia (prayer) over the creature before research began. You can.
“According to our beliefs and traditions, this whale is a gift from the sea god Tangaroa,” said local resident Tumai Cassidy of Te Runanga Otakou. “It's very important to us to honor that gift and respect the whales.”
Iwi will store the whale's jawbone and teeth at the end of the dissection and before the skeleton is displayed in a museum.
This week, these parts will be replicated using 3D printing using CT scans of the whale's head.
“All of this not only builds a richer picture of the species, but also tells us how it interacts with our oceans,” Cassidy said. .
Spade-toothed whales are thought to live in the vast South Pacific Ocean, which is home to some of the deepest ocean trenches in the world.
While beaked whales dive to the deepest depths of the ocean in search of food, spade-toothed whales rarely surface, making them even more mysterious.
Scientists gathered Monday included several from overseas to see the whale, which had been kept in cold storage since its discovery.
“What we're interested in is not just how these animals died, but how they lived,” says the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. says anatomist Joy Lydenberg. “By discovering how they live, we hope to find discoveries that can be applied to the human condition.”
