The Andrews’ Beaked Whale was found washed up on Wairo Beach, between Ulladulla and Lake Tabourie, earlier this week.

Its head and skeleton have been recovered by staff from the Australian Museum.

The dead whale is the second to have washed up on beaches near Ulladulla in the space of a fortnight.

Experts say it is a coincidence and nothing else.

Earlier this month a dead pygmy orca whale washed up on one of Ulladulla’s most popular beaches, Racecourse Beach, attracting hundreds of sightseers before eventually being removed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

Wendy McFarlane, a research coordinator with the Organisation for the Research and Rescue of Cetaceans (ORRCA), described the Andrews’ Beaked Whale as “quite a find”.

“I’ll probably go to my grave without seeing another one,” she said.

The species was first recorded in New Zealand in 1904 and is considered extremely rare.

Very little is known about its breeding or general behaviour and most of the information available to scientists has come from a limited number of strandings – believed to be less than 40 over the past 100 years.

Ms McFarlane, who inspected the dead whale on Tuesday, said it appeared to be an adult male, judging by its 4.5 metre length, but probably a young adult given that its teeth had not fully “erupted” or broken through its gums.

She said there was no obvious sign of injury and without a full autopsy the cause of the whale’s death would never be known.

However Ms McFarlane said the whale had obviously been involved in a number of fights during its life judging by the white scarring over most of its body.

The Andrews’ Beaked Whale is found mainly around Australia and New Zealand and is believed to live in deep water. It appears to avoid vessels and is rarely seen at sea.

Its numbers are unknown but are believed to be relatively low.

“There’s possibly more of them out there but they don’t get reported because people don’t know what they have seen,” Ms McFarlane said.

Ms McFarlane said it provided a valuable opportunity to educate people about stranded whales and whales in general.

She said whales were protected dead or alive and the law took a very dim view of ‘trophy hunters’.

She also advised people not to touch a dead whale.

“We don’t know what diseases, if any, these animals have,” she said.

While there has never been a report of someone actually contracting something from a dead whale, she said it was best to play it safe and give the carcass a wide berth.

* Whale strandings should be reported to the National Parks and Wildlife Service or ORRCA on (02) 9415 3333.