New Zealand scientists suspect specimen of world’s rarest whale died from head injuries

Associated Press

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Scientists suspect the first complete specimen ever recorded of the world’s rarest whale died from head injuries. Officials said on Friday the first dissection of a spade-toothed whale, a type of beaked whale, was completed last week after a painstaking examination at a research center near the New Zealand city of Dunedin. A near-perfectly preserved 5-meter (16-foot) male was found washed up on a South Island beach in July. It was the first complete specimen ever recorded. New Zealand conservation agency beaked whale expert Anton van Helden says the whale’s broken jaw and bruising to the head and neck led scientists to believe that head trauma may have caused its death.