Dead baby sperm whale found at West Auckland's Muriwai Beach

Thursday, 17 February 2022

A baby sperm whale has been found dead on Muriwai Beach in West Auckland.

Department of Conservation (DOC) rangers found the whale on Wednesday morning after receiving a call about 8pm Tuesday.

It was “very rare” for baby sperm whales to beach on New Zealand shores, according to DOC.

The last time DOC found a baby sperm whale washed ashore was 18 years ago.

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DOC marine technical advisor Hannah Hendricks said she was surprised and saddened when the call came in.

“Quite often when we get a description like that, it is a pygmy sperm whale, which is quite common to wash up around New Zealand. But, when I saw the photo, it was a baby sperm whale – which I’ve never seen before.”

Pygmy sperm whales are a different species and are much smaller than sperm whales.

This newborn whale was only 3.3 metres long, but sperm whales can grow up to 20m.

Young male sperm whales can be found year-round at the feeding ground at the Kaikōura canyon, but females and their young like to swim in warmer waters.

Because not much is known about sperm whale populations, they are classified as ‘data deficient’ in the New Zealand Threat Classification.

Hendricks said DOC couldn’t be sure whether the whale’s death was linked to Cyclone Dovi, but it “can never rule that sort of thing out”.

The whale has been buried by the mana whenua, Ngāti Whātua o Kaipara.

The iwi was contacted for comment.

Before the whale was buried, DOC took samples for research at the University of Auckland and Massey University.

On Christmas Day, the body of a Māui dolphin was found decomposing on Muriwai Beach.