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  • 4 months ago
The spade-toothed whale is perhaps the most elusive species of its kind alive today, so rare humans have never encountered one while it’s still breathing. That record will remain for now, as well, as one of them has just been found washed up on a beach in New Zealand.

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00:00The spade-toothed whale is perhaps the most elusive species of its kind alive today.
00:08So rare, humans have never encountered one while it's still breathing.
00:11And it seems that record remains, as one of them has just been found washed up on a beach in New Zealand.
00:17The creature spans some 16.4 feet long, and it was found on July 4th on the southern half of the country's South Island, in the Otago province.
00:25According to the Conservation Department's Coastal Otago, Operations Manager Gabe Davies,
00:29Spade-toothed whales are one of the most poorly understood large mammalian species of modern times.
00:34With a conservationist adding that since the 1800s, only six samples from the elusive whale have ever been found.
00:40And until 2010, scientists had never even gotten an entire specimen.
00:44Meaning finding a completely intact whale is a massive scientific discovery.
00:48New Zealand's Cetacean Tissue Archives says that the remains will be placed in cold storage, so that genetic samples can be taken.
00:54With the organization adding,
00:56The rarity of the whale means conversations around what to do next will take more time because it is a conversation of international importance.
01:03It's a wild discovery involving likely the rarest marine mammal species in existence.
01:08It's a wild discovery involving typically the rarest marine mammal species.
01:13It's a wild Tierman's land
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