Hector's beaked whale skull 3D Model

This is the skull from a young female Hector’s beaked whale (Mesoplodon hectori) that was collected from an animal that stranded at Strathblane in Tasmania in 2024.

Like most other beaked whales, Hector’s beaked whales are thought to primarily target squid prey in open water; however, very few confirmed observations of this species have been made of live animals at sea and not much is known about their biology.

Museum Collection: Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery

Registration number: TMAG A11292

Scan created in the app PolyCam on an iPhone 15 Pro by Dr David Hocking (Senior Curator of Vertebrate Zoology and Palaeontology, TMAG).