, July 21 -- Scientists have discovered three previously unknown types of Helicobacter bacteria in pygmy sperm whales, offering new clues about the health of one of the ocean's most mysterious marine mammals.

Pygmy sperm whales (Kogia breviceps) are among the least studied whale species because they spend most of their lives far offshore, travel in small groups and dive deep to hunt squid and fish. As they are rarely seen in the wild, much of what scientists know about them comes from whales that wash ashore.

Researchers from Florida Atlantic University's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute and partner institutions reviewed more than two decades of whale stranding records and preserved tissue samples. Their findings, published in the ...