Rare find a whale never seen alive off SA’s coast
Skull identified as True’s beaked
ADEAD whale that washed up at Winterstrand near Cove Rock last year has been identified as a rare True’s beaked whale, a species which normally sticks to the very deep seas and has never been seen live off the South African coast.
East London principal scientist Kevin Cole said he collected the skull of the female whale, which washed up on the beach last October, and positively identified it after it was buried for four months and then cleaned by the museum’s taxidermy department.
“This is a significant find because stranded True’s beaked whales are rare.
“The only scientific knowledge gleaned is from specimens like this,” said Cole.
“There have been no authenticated visual sightings of a True’s beaked whale off the South African coast.”
He said the find was also important because it could advance research into establishing whether the northern hemisphere beaked whale may differ to ours.
“These species of whales are still a puzzle to scientists.
“They live out in the deep ocean and have mysterious habits.”
The first underwater footage of the species showing a small group of True’s beaked whales which was filmed in the Azores in 2013, emerged last week, making headlines worldwide.
The elusive whales are named after a former curator of the Smithsonian natural history museum, Frederick W True, who described the species in 1913.
Twenty-two species of beaked whales exist worldwide.
Cole said a True’s beaked whale had also washed up at Kwenxura River in July 2012.
Cole said that although it had been easy to pinpoint that the 4.85-metre Winterstrand whale was female, it had initially been tricky to identify the species because it was bloated and decomposition had already set in.
“One of the theories for the whale’s death may be that it was exposed to noise created by seismic surveys related to oil and gas exploration off the KwaZulu-Natal coast.”
This may have led to barotrauma, a condition similar to decompression sickness in humans.
“It had been floating for a while before it was washed up close to Winterstrand,” explained Cole.
He said he was concerned about the future of cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) around the South African coast due to anthropogenic (caused by humans) sound pollution in the marine environment and its effects on marine mammals, saying this needed more research.
“To date no formal research on the effects of ocean noise on marine animals has been conducted in South Africa.”
The museum is considering mounting a cetacean display and the unusually shaped skull may become part of it. —