The creature's discoverers claim to have first encountered the animal being killed and eaten by villagers.
It was originally found in 1975 off the coast of California, but misidentified as Hector's beaked whale (Mesoplodon hectori).
It is now thought to me more closely related to the pygmy beaked whale (Mesoplodon peruvianus), which was only itself described in 1991.
[5] Strictly speaking, this is not a newly discovered species, but simply an alternative taxonomic treatment, as japonica already was widely recognized, but "only" as a subspecies.
In 1999, genetic research was conducted on a mysterious specimen of muntjac found in a Laos menagerie in 1995.