Spade-toothed whale: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the spade-toothed whale lives – recorded in 1 country, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Mesoplodon traversii
Group	Whales & dolphins
Status	Data deficient (Wikidata, IUCN category label)
Found in	1 country
Continents	Oceania
Class	Mammal
Order	Artiodactyla
Family	Ziphiidae

Where does the spade-toothed whale live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the spade-toothed whale in 1 country or territory across Oceania.

New Zealand

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

Is the spade-toothed whale endangered?

The spade-toothed whale’s conservation status recorded in Wikidata is “Data deficient” (an IUCN Red List category label). Source: Wikidata.

What kind of animal is the spade-toothed whale?

The spade-toothed whale (Mesoplodon traversii) is a mammal in the order Artiodactyla and the family Ziphiidae, genus Mesoplodon. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the spade-toothed whale

The spade-toothed whale (Mesoplodon traversii) is the rarest species of beaked whale. Only seven confirmed specimens have ever been found, over the timespan from 1872 to 2024. All seven were found in the South Pacific—six in New Zealand and one in Chile. Very little is known about the species.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Spade-toothed whale (revision 1368683211), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q27929 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).