MUSEUM NOTES

Southland Times, Issue 23649, 26 October 1938, Page 16

MUSEUM NOTES

RARE WHALE FOUND ON TARANAKI COAST

At the Science Congress held in Auckland last year, scientists from all parts of Australia and New Zealand met to discuss subjects of mutual interest, and to listen to and discuss prepared papers on a great variety of scientific subjects. Of particular interest was a paper by Dr W. R. B. Oliver, Director of the Dominion Museum, Wellington, on a new genus and species of whale. In popular language this whale would be designated as a “missing link” between whales as generally known and prehistoric monsters. So far it is the most important type ever found. — \

Very few whales have teeth, and in the sperm whale or cachalot those of the upper jaw are rudimentary. In the new species both jaws are provided, and the animal would have a total of nearly 100 useful teeth. Besides the enormous number of well-used teeth, there are certain other remarkable differences between this whale and the ones which are bettef known, particularly in the bones of the skull.

The story of the finding demonstrates the urgency of communicating with some recognized museum or scientific person immediately such animals are cast ashore. On October 15 this year a note appeared in this paper on the presence of a whale near Bluff, but no one bothered to notify the Southland Museum authorities of it. Also the writer while walking along Orepuki beach some weeks ago came across the carcass of a 17-foot blackfish —a small species of whale—which some person had damaged beyond all hope of repair by cutting through the bones and all, in four places. This latter specimen would have been a very acceptable addition to the museum collections. STORY OF FINDING On. November 7, 1933, a beaked whale was cast up on the beach at Ohawe, in Taranaki. This in itself was not an uncommon occurrence at the time of the year, for various species of beaked whales keep to the coasts of New Zealand during the early summer to calve. In the present case, the whale may have been killed by a bony growth on the lumbar vertebrae pressing against the spinal cord. The subsequent history of the specimen was full of interest. The Hawera Star of November 9 reported the discovery, and. more than a month later provided some information about the history of the whale, in the following terms:—

“Early in November the discovery was reported in The Hawera Star of a whale some 16 feet in length stranded well up under the cliff in the vicinity of Schnapper Bay, South of Ohawe beach. The mammal was believed to belong to the dolphin family of whales, and as it had no commercial value it was allowed to remain on the rocks until floated off by the tide some days later. The discovery so far as Hawera residents were concerned was soon forgotten; but a Wanganui College boy, who received a clipping of The Hawera Star report, referred it to the curator of the Wanganui Museum. While ■' considerably more is known about the larger humpback and sperm, the appearance of any of the smaller species always excites interest among scientists; and, on the description given, the museum authorities decided to instruct its beach patrols to watch for the possible reappearance of the carcass. On Saturday it was reported cast up once more at Schnapper Bay and Mr Shepherd arrived in Hawera yesterday morning to view the remains and collect neccessary data with which to establish the identity of the species.” A TERRIBLE TASK Mr Shepherd found that the whale had been flensed and was in an advanced stage .of decomposition. The state of a carcass a month old may be imagined. It did not, however, deter Mr Shepherd and two able assistants, a European and a Maori, from ■ working at it until every bone and tooth present had been retrieved. So bad was the odour that one of the helpers was very sick and men carting metal from the beach moved half a mile further along. 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 recognized that the whale was .an unusual kind and would be of some scientific interest, took the bones by train to the Wanganui Museum, doing his best by numerous wrappings and the free use of lysol to keep the smell from being detected. They are now quite sweet and the skeleton set up in a position where it may be studied. / _ Dr Oliver was invited to describe the whale and made known to the world the new genus and species Tasmacetus shepherd! The only other known remains of this species was a mandible presented to the Dominion Museum by Lady Kinsey, of Christchurch. This mandible is without locality and data and belonged to the late Sir Joseph Kinsey. The name Tasmacetus is derived from the Tasman Sea and the Greek ketos, a whale. Very fittingly the specific name is shepherdi, after Mr Shepherd.