「世界で最も希少なクジラ」解剖始まる ニュージーランド

【ウェリントンＡＦＰ＝時事】ニュージーランドで２日、世界で最も希少とされるクジラの解剖が始まった。同種のクジラはこれまでに７頭の記録しかなく、生きている姿が目撃されたことはない。（写真はニュージーランド・オタゴ地方南部の河口付近で見つかったバハモンドオウギハクジラのものとみられる死骸。自然保護省提供）
　解剖が始まったのは、バハモンドオウギハクジラ。今年７月、ニュージーランド南島の海岸に全長５メートルの死骸が打ち上げられた。以降、特別な冷凍庫で保存されており、完全な標本を初めて研究解剖する機会が得られた。
　１週間にわたって行われる予定の解剖では、バハモンドオウギハクジラの行動および捕食パターン、基本的な解剖学的特徴に関する理解が深まると期待されている。
　ニュージーランドの自然保護省は「世界で最も珍しいクジラ」だとしている。
　バハモンドオウギハクジラに関する最初の記録は１８７４年、ニュージーランド南島東沖のチャタム諸島で見つかった下顎の骨と２本の歯だった。
　その標本と、ニュージーランドとチリで発見された別の２頭の骨格から、科学者らは新種と特定した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/12/02-18:36）

New Zealand scientists on Monday began dissecting a whale considered the rarest in the world, a species so elusive that only seven specimens have ever been documented.
The dead spade-toothed whale washed ashore on New Zealand's South Island earlier this year, offering a chance to study a deep-sea mammal that has never been seen alive.
Measuring five metres (16.4 feet) long, the whale was winched off the beach in July and has sat in a special freezer since.
Whale expert Anton van Helden said it was the first time scientists had been able to dissect a complete spade-toothed specimen, which belongs to the family of beaked whales.
This is a remarkable and globally significant opportunity, he said.
The week-long dissection will help to fill in gaps about the whale's behaviour, its diet, and even its basic anatomy.
Beaked whales are the most enigmatic group of large mammals on the planet, said Van Helden.
They are deep divers that are rarely seen at sea, which presents real challenges for researching these marine animals.
This one is the rarest of the rare -- only the seventh specimen known from anywhere in the world, and the first opportunity we have had to undertake a dissection like this.
New Zealand's conservation department said the spade-toothed whale was the rarest whale in the world.
The species was first described in 1874 from just a lower jaw and two teeth collected from the Chatham Islands off the east coast of New Zealand.
That sample, along with skeletal remains of two other specimens found in New Zealand and Chile, enabled scientists to confirm a new species.
Because so few specimens have been found and there have been no live sightings, the spade-toothed whale is classified as data deficient under the New Zealand Threat Classification System.