PIGMY WHALE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 17 May 1941, Page 5

PIGMY WHALE

DISCOVERED IN SOUTH CANTERBURY UNUSUAL VISITOR Discovered stranded near the end of Pleasant Point spit recently, a rare pigmy sperm whale has been taken over by the Canterbury Museum authorities. After the specimen had been identified later however, someone hacked off about six inches of the jaw, seriously mutilating it, and the museum authorities are now trying to find the missing piece When members of the museum staff had a look at the whale on Friday they identified it as a rare inhabitant of the southern seas, named by scientists Kogia breviccps, but known to whalers as the Digmy sperm whale. Few specimens have been obtained and little is known of the life story of this cetacean, one of the toothed whales and practically a miniature—growing to a maximum length of 15ft.—of the great 75ft. sperm whale or cachalot. The pigmy that came ashore at Pleasant Point is a female, and only 10ft long but had 10 teeth on each .-ide of the narrow lower jaw, which, as in the cachalot, seems disproporiionatcly small compared with the buiky head Though it lay in a spot difficult of access, the body was successfully loaded on to a break-down truck on Saturday. The specimen is nc in cold storage awaiting scientific attention While at the spit, the museum party saw the remains of what was probably a southern sea elephant, one of the mightiest of all seals. Apparently some 12 months ago two of these huge creatures, whose home is in the Antarctic, entered the estuary and went to make their way back to the sea over the spit. One died on the way. and subsequently fire swept through the scrub, leaving only a charred skeleton. This measures 16ft long and 4ft across the flippers.