The spade-toothed whale shown in the bottom left hand corner of Taieri Mouth webcam footage the morning it was first reported on 4 July. Photo: Supplied/Patrick Gallagher
A breakthrough in the study of the world's rarest whale was found by a Dunedin man having a cup of tea on his couch.
The Department of Conservation (DOC) said a creature, believed to be a male spade-toothed whale was reported washed up on the beach at Taieri Mouth in Otago on 4 July.
Patrick Gallagher had Thursdays off work, and decided to see what the waves were up to that morning.
He wanted to check the swell in the hope of getting out for a surf, so went online to look at webcam footage of Taieri Mouth.
On the camera, he saw something that looked like a beached whale, and did a double take.
"You sometimes see seagulls that look like surfers and surfers that look like boats... beached dolphins that are actually logs," he said.
It was all dependant on the webcam picture quality, the distances between objects and the light, Gallagher said.
But this time around, he was certain it was a mammal.
"I almost didn't call it into DOC because I thought they must've known about it or it had been there for a while. I didn't want to be annoying.
"Pretty lucky that I actually put my big kid pants on and rang it in."
Later that night, DOC ranger Jim Fyfe contacted him to see if the creature, that Gallagher had tentatively compared to a porpoise, was still there.
Gallagher explained he lived in Dunedin, half an hour from Taieri Mouth and out of view of the beach, and forwarded through the link to the web cam.
Jim Fyfe and mana whenua ranger Tūmai Cassidy walk alongside a rare spade-toothed whale, being moved by Trevor King Earthmoving. Photo: Supplied/Department of Conservation
A few days later, Fyfe got in touch again.
"He mentioned that they'd been able to grab it and that it was a super rare beaked whale that was going to be frozen and held for further research," Gallagher said.
"The rarest whale on the planet was found by me sitting on my couch, having a cup of tea, dreaming about having a surf when my wee baby daughter was feeling a little bit hōha."
Since the 1800s, only six spade-toothed whale samples had been documented worldwide - the most recent was from Gisborne in 2017.
The variable picture quality on the webcam had made it hard to determine scale, Gallagher said.
"When [DOC] said it was five metres [long] I was like what the heck that's crazy... I'm sure if I saw it in real life, I wouldn't have called it a porpoise."
Because of how quickly this animal was found, and how fresh it was, the first dissection of the species would now be able to happen, DOC said.
A little of the find's shine was taken off by the whale being dead, Gallagher said.
"I was kind of taken back by it, I was pumped to try and get out and get a wave but it didn't really feel right [after discovering the whale]. Plus I had a child that needed my attention.
"They're very spiritual and majestic animals. You can't help but feel a bit sad for its loss," he said.
"But I'm really stoked that it will contribute to our understanding of the deep blue."
Gallagher said he would continue to report any future webcam discoveries to DOC.
A sample from the whale had been sent to Auckland University to confirm its species.
DOC hoped a hui would be held with all the various interested parties to decide on the next steps for the whale in the coming weeks.
Until then, it was being held in a commercial cold store in Otago.
