Scientists release first video footage of Omura's whale

WOODS HOLE, Mass., Nov. 2 (UPI) -- Last month, scientists published the first field observations of the Omura's whale, a rare species scientists had for decades misidentified.

This week, researchers released the first film footage of an Omura's whale swimming off the coast of Madagascar.

Until recently, Omura's whales had never been seen alive in the wild.

Long thought to be a pygmy Bryde's whale, the Omura's whale's unique classification was the result of DNA testing made possible by the odd beaching or entanglement in whalers' nets.

But a decade passed between its official naming and the first official observations. Finally, in 2013, a team of researchers happened upon what turned out to be several groups of Omura's whales swimming off the coast of Madagascar.

The research team, led by Salvatore Cerchio of the New England Aquarium and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, was able to collect skin samples to confirm its discovery. Over the course of months of observation, scientists …