The whale's stomach contents and genetics will be investigated by scientists.
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-long, beaked creature were found near a river mouth in southern Otago on 4 July, government researchers said. It was identified by marine-mammal experts from New Zealand's Department of Conservation and the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, as a male spade-toothed whale.
It may take several weeks or months for the DNA to be processed and a final identification confirmed. "The rarity of the whale means conversations around what to do next will take more time because it is a conversation of international importance," the conservation department said. The species was first described in 1874 from just a lower jaw and two teeth collected from the Chatham Islands off the east coast of New Zealand.
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