True's Beaked Whale from the South-East Coast of South Africa

Abstract

Mesoplodon mirus True, True's beaked whale, is known from fourteen stranded specimens from the shores of the North Atlantic, the most northerly specimen being from the Outer Hebrides and the most southerly from Florida1. On May 21, 1959, a 17 ft. 6 in. beaked whale was washed up at Wilderness, 170 miles eastwards along the coast from Cape Agulhas, the southernmost tip of Africa. The skeleton of this whale was saved from the axes of the health authority's disposal squad by Mr. B. L. Cairncross, a local naturalist, and presented to the South African Museum. This whale proves to be an adult male True's whale. Dr. F. C. Fraser has kindly compared photographs of this specimen with the example of True's whale in the British Museum (Natural History), and confirms this identification, stating, however, that the lower jaw of the South African specimen appears deeper and more massive than the British Museum example.