A RARE WHALE

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 126, 25 November 1930, Page 7

A RARE WHALE

SKELETON ACQUIRED

■MUSEUM ADDITIONS

At Mason Bay, Stewart Island, during February of last year, a whale -was washed ashore. It came under the notice of Mr. A. W. Traill who, recognising it as a rave species, hauled it up above high-water mark with a view to recovering the skeleton. A description of the specimen was sent to the Dominion Museum, and it was identified as a porpoise-whale, which is known to scientists as Berardius arnuxii. The. flesh of the whale having rotted away, the skeleton has been acquired by the Dominion Museum and is awaiting articulation. The porpoise-whale belongs to. the family of beaked whales, which are characterised by the possession of but few teeth —one or two on each side of the.jaw. All beaked whales are rare, and the porpoise-whale particularly so. The discovery of their corpses has been recorded on fifteen occasions only, and never-once has one been seen or taken alive. What is known about the por-poise-whale is therefore nest to nothing. Of the fifteen specimens recorded, fourteen have been found on the coast ■of New: Zealand, the other one having been washed ashore at La Plata, South America. Hence the por-poise-whale would seem to be a denizen, of South Pacific waters. Four out of the fourteen New Zealand specimens have come from Stewart Island. The museums of the world can boast of only eight skeletons between them. Two nt these, including the recent find, are in possession of the Dominion Museum. The other of the Dominion Museum specimens was washed ashore at the entrance of Wellington Harbour in January, 1877, and, was acquired for the Dominion Museum by Sir James Hector. It is about 24 feet long, and the new specimen is approximately the same length. The four teeth of the new specimen are unfortunately missing. They w»re there when the whale •was washed aslioro originally, but some trophy hunter has knocked them out of the jaws and thereby, partly spoilt the value of the specimen. Mr. W. B. B. Oliver, Curator of the Dominion Museum, suggested this morning that it was unlikely that both specimens would be retained by the Museum. There was little point-in having two, especially as the skeletons would have a considerable exchange value. One of the big Australian museums, he thought, would be more than pleased to have a porpoise-whale skeleton to add to its • collection, and other objects needed by tne Dominion Museum to make its collection more complete would be given in exchange, probably to the value of £60 or thereabouts.