#tasmacetus

[all-mammal-creechur]

Shepherd's Beaked Whale Tasmacetus shepherdi

It has a circumpolar distribution in southern hemisphere. The species is seldom seen because of its deep, offshore distribution in waters where sighting conditions can be difficult.

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[drhoz]

#2488 - Tasmacetus shepherdi - Shepherd's Beaked Whale

One last beaked whale from the Whanganui Regional Museum, but this one is extra-special - it's the holotype of a species discovered by the curator in 1937.

AKA Tasman's beaked whale or simply the Tasman whale. The only member of its genus, only seen alive four confirmed times, and very rarely stranded.

George Shepherd found the whale near Hāwera, determined it was something unusual, and had the by-then month-dead remains shipped to the museum, wrapped in disinfectant and cloth, and left them on the museum roof to finish breaking down. He wisely didn't inform the locals where the ungodly stench was coming from.

About halfway down the spine the vertebrae are deformed by a large lumpy growth, that was compressing the spinal cord and may have been the cause of death. Probably extremely painful, too.

Adults can reach lengths of 6 metres (20 ft) to 7.1 metres (23 ft) and weigh about 2.32 to 3.48 tons. At birth they may be about 3 metres (9.8 ft) long. Unusually toothy for a Ziphiid, possessing a full set of 17 to 27 pairs of teeth. This is probably because the species eats more fish than the usually squid-focused other beaked whales.

Whanganui Regional Museum, New Zealand