--- description: The whales are thought to be the size of elephants, but have been rarely seen as they live deep under the ocean surface title: Rare Whale Species Captured on Video for the First Time image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt819244f099636ce8/6988bd8897cdff6c306afc17/beaked-whale.png?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Science](/section/science/) ## Science Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [animals](/tag/animals/) ## animals Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Rare Whale Species Captured on Video for the First Time by [Zamira Rahim](/author/zamira-rahim/) ## Zamira Rahim Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 8, 2017 1:49 PM CUT  Youtube by [Zamira Rahim](/author/zamira-rahim/) ## Zamira Rahim Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 8, 2017 1:49 PM CUT A video of a rare species of whale [has been released](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/03/07/one-of-the-worlds-rarest-whales-has-been-caught-on-film-for-the-first-time/?utm%5Fterm=.8395c78147eb "undefined"), marking the first time the whale has been captured on film in the wild. The True’s beaked whale has only ever been seen alive by a few people, _The Washington Post_ reports. They are thought to spend over 90% of their lives deep under the ocean surface. A 46-second video clip of the animal was taken by students on a trip to the Azores, a set of islands in the North Atlantic sea. The video has been released [along with a new study](https://peerj.com/articles/3059/ "undefined") that examines the mysterious whales. “Imagine. These are animals the size of elephants that we just can’t find,” said the study’s lead author [Natacha Aguilar de Soto.](https://risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/natacha-aguilar-de-soto%28244f92aa-a598-479c-9594-ee062598e213%29.html "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4694908/trues-beaked-whale-azores-species-study/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4694908/trues-beaked-whale-azores-species-study/"},"headline":"Rare Whale Species Captured on Video for the First Time","datePublished":"2017-03-08T13:49:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T03:43:36.210Z","description":"The whales are thought to be as big as elephants, but little is known about them","url":"https://time.com/4694908/trues-beaked-whale-azores-species-study/","keywords":["animals","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt819244f099636ce8/6988bd8897cdff6c306afc17/beaked-whale.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zamira Rahim","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zamira-rahim/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt819244f099636ce8/6988bd8897cdff6c306afc17/beaked-whale.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"beaked-whale","caption":"","creditText":"Youtube","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/animals/","name":"animals"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4694908/trues-beaked-whale-azores-species-study/","name":"Rare Whale Species Captured on Video for the First Time"}}]}] ```