Beaked whales dive deep under the sea off the Whanganui and Taranaki coast. They are magnificent and mysterious. They spend most of their lives diving deep into the ocean and spend as little as eight percent of their time at the surface. This makes them the least understood cetaceans.

The New Zealand coast has a long record of beaked whale strandings, which draw great public interest and the occasional museum curator to the scene. Our Museum has had an important role in heling to unravel some of this family’s secrets. Find out about Tasmacetus shepherdi, named in the 1930s for our Museum Curator George Shepherd who recognised that this beaked whale was previously unknown to science.