Buzz
In 1872, fragments of a whale's jawbone and teeth were unearthed on Pitt Island, New Zealand. Initially believed to belong to the Scamperdown whale, or Gray’s beaked whale, it wasn’t until 1874 that John Edward Gray—the same scientist who identified Gray’s beaked whale—analyzed the remains and classified them as a previously unknown species.
Zoologists struggled for decades to classify or name this mysterious species. In the 1950s, a partial skull discovered on New Zealand’s White Island was attributed to various species, including the Bahamonde’s beaked whale, identified from a damaged skull found in 1986 on Chile’s Robinson Crusoe Island. It wasn’t until 2002 that researchers linked the Pitt Island jawbone and teeth to the skulls from White Island and Robinson Crusoe Island, officially naming the species the spade-toothed beaked whale, Mesoplodon traversii. Despite this, its appearance and behavior remained a mystery, with only three bone fragments as evidence.
In December 2010, two whales—a mature female and a young male—washed ashore at Opape Beach in New Zealand’s Bay of Plenty. Initially mistaken for Gray’s beaked whales, reminiscent of the 1872 discovery, DNA analysis later confirmed them as spade-toothed beaked whales, marking the first time complete specimens of this species had ever been observed.
Scientific American
The reason this species remained hidden from human observation for so long remains a mystery, but this discovery marks a crucial step toward understanding the world’s most elusive whale species. The skeletal remains of these whales are currently preserved at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.
