Longman's Beaked Whales
Beached whale first complete find of ultra rare species
The 21-foot whale buried on
the beach
five
months ago has turned out to be a mature, female Longman's beaked whale.
TOKYO
(AP) -- A beached whale
found
on Japan's southern coast five months ago has turned out to be the first
complete adult remains seen of an extremely rare species, researchers said
Thursday.
Experts
identified the 21-foot whale as a female Longman's beaked whale.
Five
other remains of the elusive species have been collected in Australia, Somalia
and South Africa, but those were mostly skeletal or young. Scientists have
never identified a living Longman's whale.
'It was amazing' The tan and gray whale that washed up in late July
provided scientists the first whole, adult specimen, said Nobutaka Kubo, a
marine researcher at Kagoshima City Aquarium, which examined the whale with the
National Science Museum.
"It
was amazing that we found such a rare whale," Kubo said.
The
whale died shortly after swimming aground on the coast in the southern
prefecture of Kagoshima. It was then buried at a beach.
"We
did some follow-up on the whale because we buried it without knowing what it
exactly was, and later received information that it might have been a rare
species," Kubo said. "So we went back and dug it up a week
later."
Here
you see local construction workers use a powershovel to lift the grounded
whale.
The
shape of the skeleton and its skull closely resemble remains of other Longman's
beaked whales preserved overseas, and results of DNA testing matched those of a
specimen at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, the National Science
Museum said in a statement.
Longman's
beaked whales, also known as Indo-Pacific beaked whales, have long beak-shaped
mouths and resemble elongated dolphins. They also have forward-pointing teeth
in the lower jaw.
Much
about the Longman's whale remains unknown, including how many there are and
where they live.
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