NATURE NOTES

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 18, 22 January 1938, Page 17

NATURE NOTES

NEW ZEALAND

WHALES

A NEW SPECIES

(By R. H. D. Stidolph.)

•A new species and genus of beaked whale have been recently described in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London by Dr. W. R. B.' Oliver, Director of the Dominion Museum. On November 7, 1933, a beaked whale was* cast up, on the . beach at Ohawe, Taranaki. This in itself, Dr. Oliver states, is not an uncommon occurrence at this time of the > year, as various species of beaked ' whales resort to the coasts of New Zealand during.the early summer to , calve.' In the present case, he observes, ! ' the whale may have'been killed by a ' bony growth-on the lumbar vertebrae ; pressing against the spinal cord. The : whale was discovered, by Miss Hazel Banks, who was walking along the : , beach at Ohawe, immediately after high tide. It was stranded well up : under the cliff and had been cut up , by Maoris for the most valuable of its : products. -As no one then suspected ' that the whale presented -any unusual' features, it was allowed to remain on the rocks until it floated off on tha ;- tide some days later. The incident,; so far as Hawera residents were con- j cerned, was soon forgotten, but the I whale was destined to. arouse consid-. j, erable interest in the scientific world, j BONES, RETRIEVED. ' Continuing his history of the whale j in the Proceedings, Dr. Oliver states i that a .Wanganui Cqllege boy referred i the report of the whale's occurrence I to Mr. S. Shepherd, Curator of the i • Wanganui Museum. On the descrip- j tion given, the museum authorities de- jcided' to instruct its beach- patrols to j watch for the possible reappearance j of the carcass. It was once more cast j ashore in the same locality, and Mr. j Shepherd^yisited the beach to view thje remains vand collect the necessary data with which definitely to establish the identity of the species. Mr. Shepherd ; found' that the whale had -been, flensed and was in an advanced stage of , v decomposition.. "The state of a whale carcass a month old may be imagined," Dr. Oliver writes. "It did not, however, deter Mr. Shepherd and two able assistants—a European and a Maori—from working at it until every bone: arid tooth present; was retrieved. Unfortunately, some, of the bones, including those of an entire flipper, both scapulas, and many of the teeth had dropped out of the rotting carcass and were lost. Mr. Shepherd, who recognised that the whale .was an unusual kind and would be of some scientific ( . interest, brought the bones by train to the Wanganui Museum, doing his best by numerous wrappings and the I free use of lysol to keep the smell from being detected. They are now quite sweet and set up-in a positioa where\they may be studied." ■■• • ■ ;■ ' ■''•' • .'' ■ ■ ■/ ■•• '■■•:•' ■".-.-. . * < ' " HELP, ACKNOWLEDGED. i '. "Great credit is due to-Mr. Shep* | ' herd," Dr. Oliver states,' "for' recog-' nising the value of the specimen and for his promptness in taking action to recover it. Credit also is due, to the Board of. Trustees' of the Wanganui Museum and especially the chairman, I Mr. Hope Gibbons, who, without j hesitation; approved of the expendi-j ture involved in saying the bones. Subsequent the-recovery • of, the Ohawe skel'elon, a mandible belong- . ing to' the same species was presented . ' to the Dominion Museum by Lady; Kinsey, of Christchurch. The sped- | men-is without locality and data. It | belonged.to'the late Sir. Joseph Kinsey and probably was received from, somepart of the South Island "or the Chatham Islands. "Mr. Shepherd very kindly invited me to describe the Ohawe whale," Drl Oliver states. "I .consider myself complimented by this offer and visited Wanganui on two different occasions for the purpose." j Dr. Oliver acknowledges the great as- ■ sistance given, by Mr. Shepherd and J others. In order to make comparisons j with all the recent species of beaked | whales, Dr. Oliver applied to museums *i in various parts of the world. Photo- .'• graphs, drawings, casts, information, ; and a skull were freely supplied. Ha i named the species Tasmacetus Shep-' herdi in honour of Mr. Shepherd. j APPEAL FOR INFORMATION. , \ In a paper on whales published some i. time ago in the' New Zealand Journal ! of Science and Technology, Dr. Oliver j referred to the difficulty in studying j the group on account of the lack of j fresh material for examination,. which i was usually limited1 to'• specimens cast i ■ ashore. He stated that on account ot I the few examples : that any one in- ! dividual has the opportunity to ex- ;' amine, the identity of stranded! cetaceans is frequently mistaken. As a | consequence, he observes, the chance j of securing a rare whale for a scien- i tiflc institution is lost, because ' the | local expert pronounces it to be a . "blackfish" or other1 vague name., or : the scientist may be,called many miles.1, to view a common kind because a name that really belongs to a rare species is applied to it. If any one j finding a stranded.cetacean were to, forward .a description, or a photo- ; graph, to the nearest museum, possibly ; a skeleton of'a rare species might be '• procured. Any observations, descrip- j tions, or photographs lof cetaceans; would be greatly appreciated by Dr. ! Oliver, who would endeavour to supply the name or other particulars of specimens so reported to him. By this means also, Dr. Oliver points out, an . amount of useful information will no ' x doubt be. accumulated. SOME BEAKED WHALES. Making reference to the species of ; beaked whales found in JNew Zealand, ' Dr. Oliver states : that' the porpoise whale, the largest species of beaked whale, attains a length of 32 feet. It is very desirable, he states, that in-' formation should be obtained as to tha external appearance as well as the , internal structure of this whale. An-, other species, the New Zealand beaked ;.. whale, is only known from two specimens, both obtained in the Dominion; while the southern beaked whale, the adult of which reaches a length of nearly 20 feet, has been frequently cast ashore at the Chatham Islands and < less commonly on 'the New Zealand coast,, though, it has been recorded . from the Australian and South American coasts. Very little is known of its. external features or internal organisa- ' tion. The salve-toothed whale is known from two skeletons; nothing is known about its external appearance or any part of it other than the., skeleton. It will be', seen from the above quotations how.little is known about our whales-and any Information bearing on the subject would be of considerable interest to those engaged in investigating this form ot life.