Pretty Sad.

In the weekend, a Sperm Whale was found washed up near the Taramakau River mouth, south of Greymouth and on Saturday a Cuvier's Beaked Whale was found at Cobden Beach, also near Greymouth.

The Sperm Whale was about 17 metres long, massive.

When animals that large have lived in water their whole life, and have a body made to work with the support of dense ocean, being out of the water doesn't support their large bodies and their bones and organs can't withstand the weight of their huge body mass. That's why most beached whales don't stand much chance of survival.

 You're probably interested in why they're called "Sperm" whales, it's not what you think. Their heads hold a huge quantity of a substance called spermaceti, which is what the early whalers found when they started hunting this species, and they somehow came to the conclusion that it was the same as human semen, hence the name. But they later realised that this liquid was extremely valuable for cosmetics, candles, waxes etc. Which then started a big craze towards whaling for Spermaceti.

They're the largest of the toothed whale group and have the largest brains on earth. 

Both the species of whales found tend to hunt for squid-like creatures around 1,000m deep and both are spotted around New Zealand quite often.

It seems to be a common event , finding beached Cuvier's Whales, but the loss of the Sperm Whale is pretty miserable, there aren't thaat many left and we need to take care of them!

(A wee video showing the gentle heart of Sperm Whales and the opposite of the Orca) Orca vs Sperm Whale