A small group of scientists and cultural experts in New Zealand began dissecting a near-perfectly preserved spade-toothed whale hoping to decode decades of mystery.

According to the DOC, the spade-toothed whale was first documented in 1874 from lower jaw and teeth samples collected on Pitt Island, around 500 miles off New Zealand’s west coast.

A whale species so rare, it's never been seen alive. What we can learn from discovery of a spade-tooth whale that washed ashore.

Why scientists are marveling at a potential spade-toothed whale sighting If scientists confirm the creature belongs to the rare species, it will mark only the seventh such specimen ever studied.

The smallest species of whale tricks its predators by gushing red gallons of red fluid into the water when under attack ...

Experts believe the creature is a spade-toothed whale, an animal so rare that only six specimens have been studied by scientists.

The spade-toothed whale, Mesoplodon traversi, is the world's rarest whale. Since 1872, only seven specimens have been found, and none have ever been sighted alive at sea. Almost nothing is known ...

Scientists in New Zealand have discovered what they believe may be a rare spade-toothed whale - a creature that's never been spotted alive at sea.

Beaked whale expert Anton van Helden inspects a male spade-toothed whale ahead of a dissection at Invermay Agricultural Centre, Mosgiel, near Dunedin, New Zealand, on December 2, 2024.

The spade-toothed whale washed up dead in New Zealand, only the seventh specimen ever found.

Scientists and culture experts in New Zealand have begun the first-ever dissection of a spade-toothed whale, the world's rarest whale species ...