During the autopsy of a sperm whale, researchers made an extremely valuable discovery. Now its sale is expected to fetch half a million for the volcano victims.
In May, a dead sperm whale was discovered on the remote beach of Nogales on the Canary Island of La Palma. As it was not possible to tow the approximately 13 meter long and 15 ton carcass to Santa Cruz because the whale would have been torn to pieces, a team of researchers from Gran Canaria decided to examine the whale on site and perform an autopsy to find out what caused this animal had died.
As the whale was in the surf, the team had to work at low tide. It quickly became clear that the sperm whale had not been killed by human hands or because of an accident, but that there was a natural cause. Research leader Antonio Fernández Rodríguez, who has experience in more than 1,000 whale autopsies, finally suspected acute digestive problems. Lo and behold, upon inspection of the colon, he felt a hard lump. “I then found a rock about 50 to 60 centimeters long that weighed 9.5 kilos,” reports Rodríguez.
Fund is worth half a million euros
When he reached the beach with the lump of waves, all eyes turned to him. “But no one knew the lump I was holding was ambergris,” he says with a smile. The material that is sometimes found floating in the sea is also known as “floating gold”. It is a substance composed of the indigestible remains of marine life, which binds in the whale’s stomach for years and becomes a waxy and incredibly valuable material.
Smelling like sandalwood, ambergris has long been used in perfumery because it can prolong the life of scents. The value of the lump found in La Palma is around half a million euros.
The money was supposed to go to the volcano victims
Ambergris is only found on around 100 whales. Normally, animals excrete the substance through vomit or intestines – in the present case, however, according to the research team, the particularly large lump represented the death sentence for the marine mammal: it injured the animal’s entrails and triggered poisoning of the blood, which he suffered, died miserably.
But the whale’s death must now also have its upside. The researchers want to find a buyer for the ambergris and donate the proceeds to victims of the volcanic eruption on the island in 2021. At the time, it destroyed hundreds of residential and commercial buildings and caused damages of around 800 million euros.
rfi navigation account, time 20 minutes05.07.2023, 21:55| Act: 05.07.2023, 21:55