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World's rarest whale seen for first time
- Published_at:2012-11-05
- Category:Education
- Channel:Holyy Shitt
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- description: The spade-toothed whale, Mesoplodon traversii, is a very little known species of beaked whale. The world's rarest whale has been seen for the first time after a mother and calf were washed up on a beach in New Zealand. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spade-toothed_whale http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/9655994/Worlds-rarest-whale-seen-for-first-time.html Spade-toothed beaked whales were first discovered in 1872 when bone fragments were found on a remote Pacific island, but until now the species has remained entirely hidden from human view. In the 140 years since they were first discovered, the only sign that the creatures' continued existence lay in two partial skulls found in New Zealand in the 1950s and Chile in 1986. Now scientists have reported a complete description of the whales, which are thought to spend most of their lives in the deep waters of the Pacific Ocean, only rarely coming to the surface. The Mother and her male calf were stranded on Opape Beach at the northern tip of New Zealand in December 2010 but were initially thought to be of a much more common species known as Gray's beaked whales. It was only after routine DNA analysis that experts realised their true identity. http://www.foxnews.com/science/2012/11/05/world-rarest-whale-seen-for-first-time/ The world's rarest whale has been spotted for the first time, in New Zealand, where two of the whales stranded themselves. The two spade-toothed beaked whales, a mother and calf, stranded and died on Opape Beach on the North Island of New Zealand, in December 2010. The mother was 17 feet long and the calf was 11 feet long. A report describing the whales and the analysis of their DNA appears in the Nov. 6 issue of the journal Current Biology. 'It's remarkable that we know almost nothing about such a large mammal.' - University of Auckland marine biologist Rochelle Constantine "Up until now, all we have known about the spade-toothed beaked whale was from three partial skulls collected from New Zealand and Chile over a 140-year period. It is remarkable that we know almost nothing about such a large mammal," Rochelle Constantine, a marine biologist at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, said in a statement. "This is the first time this species has ever been seen as a complete specimen, and we were lucky enough to find two of them." At first, the animals were thought to be much more common Gray's beaked whales. Their identity came to light following routine DNA analysis, which was done as part of a 20-year program to collect data on beaked whale species in New Zealand waters. New Zealand is a known hotspot for whale stranding, and it has the highest rates and greatest diversities of stranded whale species in the world, the researchers report. The New Zealand Department of Conservation photographed the animals and collected tissue samples. "When these specimens came to our lab, we extracted the DNA as we usually do for samples like these, and we were very surprised to find that they were spade-toothed beaked whales," Constantine said. "We ran the samples a few times to make sure before we told everyone." The researchers said they have no idea why the whales have remained so elusive. "It may be that they are simply an offshore species that lives and dies in the deep ocean waters and only rarely wash[es] ashore," Constantine said. Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/science/2012/11/05/world-rarest-whale-seen-for-first-time/#ixzz2BO2LNNiR
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| 2012-11-08 | 4,676 | 5 | 5 |
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| 2012-11-09 | 8,727 | 5 | 5 |
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