The mysterious mass floating in the water was a whale<\/a> placenta. Coming across a specimen like this is incredibly rare. \u201cThis tissue typically sinks quickly after being released from the mother,\u201d says\u00a0Jens Currie<\/a>, Pacific Whale Foundation\u2019s chief scientist.\u00a0<\/p>\n Although the birth must have been very recent, there was no sign of mother or calf nearby.\u00a0\u201cIt is thought that mothers and calves move away rapidly after birth, likely\u00a0to avoid any predators that may be attracted by the afterbirth,\u201d says Currie.\u00a0<\/p>\n The crew quickly collected the placenta, which included a \u201clarge portion of the umbilical cord\u201d and brought it onboard their boat (under permits #27099 and MMHSRP #24359) to take it back to the lab for scientists to study.<\/p>\n \u201cThe\u00a0placenta\u00a0weighed approximately 300 pounds [136 kg], making it one of the very few occasions in which a fully intact whale\u00a0placenta\u00a0has been measured and weighed,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n The opportunity to study a specimen like this doesn\u2019t come around often so the researchers\u00a0are excited for the rare opportunity to process the sample and collect important data. \u201cWhale\u00a0placentas\u00a0represent\u00a0an extraordinary biological archive, offering rare insight into maternal health and the conditions experienced by a developing calf,\u201d says Currie.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis rare opportunity allows scientists to explore whale\u00a0placental\u00a0tissue\u00a0in unprecedented detail, improving\u00a0our\u00a0understanding of reproduction and foetal development, and offering insight into environmental stressors\u00a0that\u00a0may affect whale populations\u00a0later in life,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n The team is working\u00a0alongside\u00a0scientists from\u00a0University of Hawaii\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0Health and Strandings Lab and\u00a0Griffith University<\/a> to study the placenta. The experts were careful to take only what they needed. <\/p>\n \u201cApproximately one percent of the tissue was carefully subsampled,\u201d says Currie. \u201cThe majority of\u00a0the\u00a0placenta\u00a0has been\u00a0retained\u00a0intact and will\u00a0ultimately be\u00a0returned to the ocean, following both cultural and scientific protocols.\u201d<\/p>\n Their analysis includes taking measurements, photos and samples to see if the tissue contains contaminants, such as microplastics<\/a>, mercury and ‘forever chemicals’ (PFAS).\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cPlacental\u00a0tissue offers a unique opportunity to better understand how these substances are distributed within the body and the extent to which developing calves may be exposed to contaminants before birth<\/a>,\u201d says Currie.\u00a0<\/p>\n This finding isn\u2019t just important for scientists. Taking a sample like this is a \u201csacred moment\u201d in Hawaiian culture, so the team is careful to disturb the remains as little as possible. \u201cWe have a cultural advisor on staff\u00a0and also\u00a0work with a broader group of Indigenous cultural practitioners,\u00a0Kia\u02bbi\u00a0Kanaloa<\/a>, who provide guidance and oversight,\u201d explains Currie. \u201cAny work involving bio-cultural materials is approached with care, restraint and respect.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n In line with Hawaiian culture, the whale\u2019s i’o (flesh) will be respectfully returned to the sea at the spot it was found, says Currie: \u201cKia\u02bbi\u00a0Kanaloa has provided the cultural protocol for returning the\u00a0placenta\u00a0to the sea, including the development of a ceremony for us to carry out that includes [the ceremonial prayers] Pule Mihi [and] Pule\u00a0\u02bbAwa, and\u00a0[the traditional practice of offering gratitude called]\u00a0ho\u02bbokupu<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Top image: Hawai’i. Credit: Getty<\/p>\n More wildlife stories from around the world<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Whale\u00a0experts in\u00a0Hawai\u2018i\u00a0were astounded when they came across a whale placenta floating in the ocean and were able to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":256076,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[111,139,69,147,406],"class_list":{"0":"post-256075","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-new-zealand","9":"tag-newzealand","10":"tag-nz","11":"tag-science","12":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Whales\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Whales-scaled.jpeg\")
Finding a whale placenta is an incredibly rare event. Credit: Pacific Whale Foundation – NMFS MMPA\/ESA Research Permit #21321<\/p>\n![\"Whale](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Whale-mom-and-calf-scaled.jpeg\")
Whale mother and calf. Credit: Pacific Whale Foundation – NMFS MMPA\/ESA Research Permit #21321<\/p>\n