Rarest of whales washes up in NZ_美文_趣味英语-查字典英语网

Rarest of whales washes up in NZ

Conservation workers thought they were Gray's beaked whales and took tissue samples before burying them about 2.7 meters under the sand.

Those samples ended up at the University of Auckland, where scientists did routine tests about six months later. Rochelle Constantine, a co-author of the paper, said she and colleague Kirsten Thompson could not believe it when the results showed the pair to be the rarest of whales.

"Kirsten and I went quiet. We were pretty stunned," she said.

Further tests confirmed the discovery. Constantine said they retested 160 samples taken from other stranded Gray's whales, but did not find any more that had been misidentified.

This year, researchers returned to the beach to exhume the skeletons.

Questions:

1. What is the name of the rare whale?

2. In which year were two of these whales beached in New Zealand?

3. This whale has a beak that makes it look like which marine mammal?

Answers:

1. Spade-toothed beaked whale.

2. 2010.

3. Dolphin.

About the broadcaster:

CJ Henderson is a foreign expert for China Daily's online culture department. CJ is a graduate of the University of Sydney where she completed a Bachelors degree in Media and Communications, Government and International Relations, and American Studies. CJ has four years of experience working across media platforms, including work for 21st Century Newspapers in Beijing, and a variety of media in Australia and the US.