A small group of scientists and cultural experts in New Zealand have gathered around a nearly perfectly preserved sabertooth whale in hopes of unraveling decades of mystery.
The sabertooth whale is the rarest of all, with only seven of its species ever sighted. According to Anton van Helden, Senior Marine Science Advisor for the New Zealand Conservation Agency, it was given this name to distinguish it from other whale species.
Anton van Helden has studied beaked whales for 35 years, but this was the first time he participated in a dissection of the saber-toothed variety. In fact, the careful study of the creature, which was found dead on a New Zealand beach in July, is the first to be carried out.
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The list of what scientists don’t know about sabertooth whales is longer than what they do know. They don’t know where whales live in the ocean, why they have never been sighted in the wild, or what their brains are like. All beaked whales have different stomach systems and researchers don’t know how the sabertooth type processes its food. They also don’t know how this one died.
The seventh whale of its kind appeared relatively undamaged, giving no clues about its death. The dissection will be calm, methodical and slower than usual, because it will be carried out in partnership with the Maori, the indigenous people of New Zealand. For Māori, whales are taonga, a precious treasure, and the creature will be treated with the reverence accorded an ancestor.
Members of the local iwi, or tribe, will be present throughout the dissection and will be consulted at every step, allowing them to share traditional knowledge and observe customs, such as saying a karakia, a prayer, over the creature before the study begins.
The iwi will retain the whale’s jaw and teeth at the end of the dissection, before its skeleton is displayed in a museum. 3D printing will be used to replicate those parts, using a CT scan taken of the whale’s head this week.
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