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Sven Explains: Type D killer whales

Researchers with the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration have long been searching for a species dubbed 'Type D killer whale.'

We hear about the loss of species all the time, but we might have gained a new species to learn about...well, sort of.

Researchers with the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration have long been searching for this species dubbed 'Type D killer whale,' which are actually dolphins.

On a recent trip off the coast of Chile in January, researchers think they may have spotted them.

DNA tests from samples they obtained will confirm if indeed this is a new, distinct species.

They were only first known in 1955 when a pod of them became stranded near New Zealand, but spotting them ever since has been next to impossible.

Why are they so elusive? 

They live in open ocean in a region known as the 'sub-antarctic'- one of the most inhospitable and difficult to reach places on earth.

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