Using Ralf Keifner's
'Whales and Dolphins: Cetacean World Guide', here is some information on Shepherd's Beaked Whale.
It seems that this whale is extremely poorly known, even amongst the beaked whales which are poorly understood but are believed to comprise about twenty species. It was first described in 1933 and christened
Tasmacetus shepherdi, literally translated as 'Whale from the Tasmanian Sea', and named after the curator of New Zealand Museum who first described the specimen. It is exceptionally rare and is known from about 20 strandings, mostly in New Zealand, and a single sighting at sea.
The male animal grows up to 7m in length with the female slightly shorter. It is a dark-grey to black colour on the topside with a white underside and has a quite distinctive colour separation. Interestingly it is the only species of beaked whale with fully developed sets of teeth in both jaws in both sexes, as with most beaked whales only the male has well developed teeth. From an autopsy on another specimen it appears that it tends to feed on deep-water fish rather than squid or crustaceans though with only one specimen examined this may not be a reliable indicator of the diet of Shepherd's Beaked Whale. Strandings have also been reported in Chile and Argentina so it seems this whale thrives in the cold-temperate deep waters in the Southern Hemisphere.
It seems that quite a few unusual beaked whales have been stranded in the last year. If anyone is interested, here are reports linking to finds of a specimen of Longman's Beaked Whale in Japan last December:
Longman's Beaked Whale stranding in Japan
and another example from South Africa last August:
Longman's Beaked Whale stranding in South Africa
Here is a report of a stranding of the equally poorly known True's Beaked Whale last June also in South Africa (no pictures):
True's Beaked Whale stranding in South Africa
And finally a specimen of the Ginko-Tooothed Beaked Whale found last April in New Zealand:
Ginko-toothed Beaked Whale in New Zealand
I have been witness to one whale stranding that took place on the 20/03/2001 at a place called Sandwich Bay which is on the extreme South East tip of England and about ten miles from where I live. An immature Humpback Whale had driven itself ashore and was in an extremely poor condition. Apparantly it was so sick and riddled with parasites that the animal had become totally disorientated and had swum up the English Channel heading towards the North Sea before beaching itself. Humpbacks are practically unknown from our waters, and I believe that this was the first stranding known from the UK. Unfortunately the poor thing could not be saved and it had to be destroyed, the body was hauled onto a low load truck to be disposed of at a landfill site.
Here is a photo of the animal I took at Sandwich Bay shortly before the carcass was carried off:
thats just really, really sad 
