14 DAY TRIAL // This past October 15, a rare saber-toothed whale was discovered lying on the shore of Venice Beach in California.
Preliminary investigations have revealed that the 14-feet-long (about 4.2 meters) marine mammal is a female. Hence the fact that, despite being a saber-toothed whale, it lacks the two large, triangular teeth on the lower jaw that give this species its name.
Marine scientists explain that male saber-toothed whales are the only ones that sport such teeth. However, both males and females have an elongated beak, as noticeable in the picture next to this article.
Because of this anatomical quirk, the species is also known as Stejneger's beaked whale. Business Insider tells us that saber-toothed whales are incredibly rare, and have seldom been observed in the wild.
Specialists say that, according to evidence at hand, they chiefly inhabit the Bering Sea, and are most often seen swimming close to Alaska's and Japan's coastlines.
By the looks of it, the saber-toothed whale that washed ashore in California's Venice Beach died after being attacked by a shark. Thus, a surprisingly large number of wounds are observable on its body.
Based on what these wounds look like and how many they are, marine scientists suspect that the whale fell victim to a so-called cookie cutter shark.
This predator's hunting method boils down to following its prey around and biting off large chunks of its body until the latter dies, they detail.
According to the same source, there is a slight chance that this marine mammal is not a saber-toothed whale, but a representative of an even rarer species dubbed the Gingko-toothed beaked whale.
The animal's corpse has been picked up by folks at the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum's Stranding Response Team. Scientists wish to closely examine it and even carry out genetic tests in order to determine exactly which species the marine mammal belongs to.