South American belted whales are the rarest whales in the world, having never been recorded in the wild. No one knows how many there are, what they eat, or where they live.
New Zealand’s Department of Conservation has announced the possible discovery of a South American cetacean, a rare cetacean, on one of the country’s islands. Associated Press reports.
South American belted whales are the most mysterious whales, never recorded in the wild. They are rarely seen on the surface because they dive very deep in search of food.
“It’s very difficult to do research on marine mammals if you can’t see them in the sea. It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack. You don’t know where to look,” said Hannah Hendricks, spokeswoman for the Department of Conservation.
A five-metre creature washed up on a South Island beach this month. Based on the shape of the skull, beak and teeth, experts suggest that this is a South American belt tooth. He was quickly taken to a refrigerated chamber for further research.
If this is confirmed, scientists will be able to dissect it to learn more about the species: what it eats, where it lives and how it is related to other species. Only six other specimens have been found so far, but they were buried before DNA analysis could be performed.
The South American mothtail was first identified in 1872 on Pitt Island. The remaining remains were found in the 1950s and in 1986. DNA sequencing in 2002 confirmed that all these specimens belonged to the same species. In 2010, two dead South American lanternfish washed up on a beach in New Zealand, but scientists only identified what they were after they were buried.
It was previously reported that Ukrainian polar explorers from the Akademik Vernadsky station were filming whales “spying” on the ocean surface in Antarctica.
Source: korrespondent
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