Scientists have identified a mystery leviathan found washed up on a New Zealand beach earlier this month as an elusive spade-toothed whale. The species is reportedly so rare no-one’s ever seen one alive, and for years only skeletal remains provided any evidence they actually existed. Locals stumbled on the latest specimen, itself just the sixth to have been documented anywhere in the world, at the mouth of a river in Otago province on the country’s South Island. It’s since been moved to cold storage so that DNA testing could be carried out. Given the 16-foot creature had only recently died, officials hope to dissect the whale for research – an opportunity they’ve described as “huge.” According to the BBC, however, talks will first be held with local Maori communities, for whom whales hold sacred status, before a final decision is made on what to do with the carcass.
