Scientists and culture experts in New Zealand have begun the first-ever dissection of a spade-toothed whale, the world's rarest whale species.

New Zealand scientists on Monday began dissecting a whale considered the rarest in the world, a species so elusive that only seven specimens have ever been documented. "This one is the rarest of the rare -- only the seventh specimen known from anywhere in the world,

The week-long dissection offers a unique opportunity to study a deep-sea mammal that has never been seen alive.