World's rarest whale washes up on New Zealand beach

World's rarest whale washes up on New Zealand beach

Workers remove what scientists believe is the body of a spade-toothed whale -- a species so rare it has never been seen alive -- from a New Zealand beach.

According to the New Zealand conservation department, the first intact specimen was from a mother and calf stranding in 2010, and a further stranding in 2017 added one more specimen to the collection.

It may take several weeks or months for the DNA to be processed and a final identification confirmed.