World’s rarest whale washes up on New Zealand beach

July 22, 2024

Q: Scientists believe the 16-foot creature that that washed up on a New Zealand beach this month is the carcass of the world’s rarest whale, so elusive that it has never been documented alive. Where are the remote islands of New Zealand in the South Pacific Ocean?

Circle the area on this map

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Q: The spade-toothed whale carcass was quickly placed in a freezer, in such a state that scientists could dissect a specimen for the first time. Scientists confirmed the existence of the species in 2002 using skeletal remains found in New Zealand and in which South American nation on the South Pacific?

A. Argentina

B. Bolivia

C. Chile

D. Paraguay

Q: Scientists know very little about spade-toothed whales. The remains of only six of them have been found over 150 years. The latest was found on New Zealand’s South Island, the largest of more than 700 islands in the ...

A. Abyssal fan

B. Archipelago

C. Arroyo

D. Atoll

Q: Before dissecting the carcass, scientists will have to negotiate with New Zealand’s indigenous Maori people, who consider whales sacred. The Maori are part of which cultural-ethnic group of Pacific islanders?

A. Melanesians

B. Micronesians

C. Polynesians

Q: Polynesia is made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered across a roughly triangular area of the Pacific. New Zealand is at the southeastern corner of the triangle, and Chile’’s Easter Island, or Rapa Nui, is on the southwest corner. Which islands are at the northern corner of the Polynesian Triangle?

A. Hawaiian

B. Pitcarin

C. Samoan

D. Tongan

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Answers for this quiz: Click here