In July 2024, scientists in Otago, New Zealand, made a stunning discovery: an elusive spade-toothed beaked whale had washed up on the shore. The whale had never been seen in the wild, and finding a recently deceased adult male meant that, for the first time, scientists could examine the species — an animal around the size of an oversized dolphin that had successfully evaded humans for much of human history.
Alexander Werth, a biologist at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia, received a call from fellow scientists and later discovered that the team would be dissecting the animal alongside and led by a group of indigenous Māori cultural experts in Aotearoa, New Zealand.
Examining the Spade-Toothed Beaked Whale
For Werth, it was the opportunity of a lifetime. However, the Māori people were hesitant to allow Western-educated scientists in to study the animal, which they see as their relative. Dissecting it felt suspicious at best. But eventually, Werth and other scientists were able to continue, provided that the eyes and the brain, which are considered sacred, remained untouched.
The team had only five days to examine the species. They found themselves racing to document every detail.
“The five days were full, starting at seven in the morning and working through dinner. Then spending the evenings talking about what we’d found,” he added.
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Beaked Whales Are Mysteries
Beaked whales are generally very mysterious to biologists because they live in the depths of the ocean.
“They’ve living submarines,” says Werth. While beaked whales have been documented diving 1.8 miles deep, they routinely dive down around half a mile and stay there for hours. It’s an environment that humans know little about, one that’s so foreign that it feels like outer space. And yet this huge mammal is able to survive in it.
It’s cold, dark, and unforgiving, a place where an animal as large as a whale shouldn’t be able to survive. “These creatures are diving into this inky black death where it’s dark 24/7,” Werth says.
Beaked whales, including spade-toothed beaked whales, have large amounts of wax esters in their blubber, which provides them with energy when they dive deep and helps them withstand the extreme cold. Their beaks allow them to be aerodynamic as they dive in search of squid and fish. The males have a big tusk in the middle of their jaw, and the species gets its name from the spade-toothed shape of its teeth.
Spade-toothed beaked whales also have unique stomachs. This whale, in particular, had around a dozen chambers inside its stomach. And like many whales, these long-lived species may live well into their 80s, similar to humans.
Researchers don’t know whether the spade-toothed beaked whale migrates like other whales, but they do know that its habitat is in the deep ocean, though it’s not clear if it’s found in other parts of the world besides New Zealand, where deep water trenches run right up to the shore.
How Did the Beaked Whale Die?
This particular specimen was in good health; it wasn’t emaciated or sick, but it did have a broken tooth and jaw. Researchers aren’t sure whether this was a result of its death or happened afterward. There is speculation that this was the result of two males ramming each other in an effort to mate or to defend their territory. It also might have been caused by a collision with a vessel. Scientists don’t know for sure.
Regardless, researchers came upon it, and for Werth, it was incredible to think that a species like this could live on Earth largely undiscovered and completely unknown to science.
“To think we’re going on about our days with this species living in the ocean and we didn’t even know about it,” he says. “There’s so much more we’ve yet to learn.”
Read More: 4 Ways Whales Show They are Highly Intelligent Creatures
Article Sources
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Sara Novak is a science journalist based in South Carolina. In addition to writing for Discover, her work appears in Scientific American, Popular Science, New Scientist, Sierra Magazine, Astronomy Magazine, and many more. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the Grady School of Journalism at the University of Georgia. She’s also a candidate for a master’s degree in science writing from Johns Hopkins University, (expected graduation 2023).
