An extremely rare beaked whale washed ashore in Australia on Tuesday, sparking lots of excitement among researchers and scientists since the sea creature is known to spend most of its time in the depths of the water, far away from human contact, Huffington Post reported. As of yet, the whale's cause of death is unknown.
Discovered at Redhand Beach, 93 miles north of Sydney, the whale was measured to be a 10- to 13-foot animal. Immediately after it was found, experts examined it and started collecting specimens.
Volunteers plan to remove the whale's head and send it to the Australian Museum in Sydney, where scientists will use X-ray scans and DNA testing to confirm the whale's species and study the mysterious creature up close, according to Organization for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia (ORRCA).
"It is sad but also exciting as we can learn so much more about the animal," ORCA President Ronny Ling told Agence France-Presse.
"We don't know much about them, we rarely get to see them. We have taken samples and measurements and will remove the head and send it to the Australian Museum," he continued. "The jaws will be X-rayed and together with DNA it should confirm the species of beaked whale."
Since the beaked whale family, one of the deepest diving of all cetaceans, is popularly known to favor deepwater habitats, it is extremely difficult to encounter and study the rare creature, according to the whaleresearch.org website.
"So for a very, very long time not much has been known about them and so every time we even find one that is dead on the beach, it is a treasure trove for the scientists," Shona Lorigan, vice-president of the Organization for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia (ORCA), told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
"What little we know of beaked whales has largely come from stranded animals," the website stated. "Sightings of these elusive creatures at sea are extremely rare due to their long dive times and unobtrusive surfacing behavior."
In his 25-year career, Ling came across only a few beaked whales. "Some of these species are only known from a handful of strandings," he said.
Marine biologist Elise Bailey told ABC radio said she had never witnessed a beaked whale in her 20 years of study.
"You don't normally see a beaked whale come into these waters; it's an oceanic animal and it's usually going to be way out in very deep offshore waters," she said, adding that "it was too early to say why the whale died."
"It could be sick, it could be old, it could have had some trauma," she added.
Meanwhile, a recent published study shows a tagged Cuvier's beaked whale dived to 9,816 feet (2,992 meters) while another stayed underwater for 137.5 minutes, according to the journal PLOS ONE.
