UK couple discovers $70,000 chunk of whale vomit

APRIL 14, 2016

by Chuck Bednar

Typically, when a husband and wife encounter vomit, they’re far from excited – but when said vomit comes from a whale, making it worth up to $70,000 (£50,000) due to its rarity and desirability as an ingredient in perfumes (that’s a different story entirely).

According to The Guardian and the International Business Times, Lancashire natives Gary and Angela Williams were walking along Middleton Sands beach when they picked up the pungent scent of rotting fish. Rather than turning around and heading for more pleasant-smelling pastures, they chose to follow the odor and found a grey-colored lump about the size of a rugby ball.

They had read about whale vomit, also known as ambergris, in their local newspaper and decided to wrap the object up in a scarf and take it home. Perfume makers use ambergris in their products to try to make scents last longer, but the substance is very rare, and thus can be quite valuable. In this case, the 1.57 kg lump found by the couple could net them well over $70,000.

“It was a bit of a shock,” Gary Williams told the Daily Mirror. “It was down a section of the beach where no one really walks. It smells bad though. It’s a very distinctive smell, like a cross between squid and farmyard manure. It feels like a rock hard rubber ball. Its texture is like wax, like a candle. When you touch it you get wax sticking to your fingers.”

Read more at

First Fossil Whale Poop Pops Up in Italy

Clumps of squid beaks sticking out of clay in Italy's Umbrian badlands may be the first fossilized ambergris, or whale poo, ever found.

Ambergris is a fatty, waxy-looking substance. Scientists believe sperm whales — the largest toothed predator on Earth — secrete ambergris inside their digestive tracts to protect themselves from sharp objects, like giant squid beaks and fish bones and teeth. And contrary to urban legend, ambergris is actually whale poo, not vomit. Sought after by perfume makers, aged ambergris is like umami for the nose, adding musky depth to scents.

Even though scientists have discovered fossilized feces, called coprolites, from dinosaurs, ichthyosaurs, mammoths and sharks, no one has reported finding ancient ambergris.

Continued

Whale Vomit Worth £100,000 Found on Dog Walk

A man whose dog found a lump of rare and valuable whale sick on a beach is expecting to be able to sell it for more than £100,000.

Ken Wilman, 50, was out walking on Morecambe beach when his dog Madge started sniffing a lump of rock.

He told Sky News: "At first I thought it was a football but as I got closer I realised it was a big stone.

"She wouldn't leave it alone. I picked it up and it smelt horrible so I knocked it with my walking stick and a small lump came off.

"I put both pieces back on the beach but something in the back of my mind told me it might be something unusual.

"I came back home and searched online. I had an inkling it was whale vomit and when I saw pictures I realised it was.

"When I read how valuable it was I got Madge straight back in the car and drove back to the beach to bring it home."

Whale vomit is also known as ambergris and is used to make perfume. It is formed in the digestive system of sperm whales and has a very strong and unpleasant aroma.

Whales excrete it through the mouth when it is too large to pass through the digestive system. Perfume makers use it as it has a smell similar to musk.

Mr Wilman said: "A company in France has offered 5,000 euros (£4,300) per 300g which would make my piece worth 50,000 euros (£43,000) but I'm told companies in Switzerland offer four times that amount."

Mr Wilman, who is a single parent and has been unemployed since a motorbike accident in 2007, said when he does sell it he will spend the money taking his 15-year-old son on a trip to Machu Picchu, in Peru.

He added: "Madge will also be getting a treat for her find by being fed her favourite sausages every day from now on!"

Read more and see video at: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/animals/dangerous-animals-often-found-close-to-home-20130204-2dtjh.html#ixzz2JwszNb4j

Charlie Naysmith, 8, Discovers Piece Of Whale Vomit Worth $63,000

An 8-year-old boy in Bournemouth, Great Britain, may have some gross profits after finding a piece of whale vomit that may be worth $63,000.

Charlie Naysmith was walking on the beach of Hengistbury Head when he came across a big hunk that looked like a yellowish beige rock with a waxy finish and picked it up, according to the Daily Echo newspaper.

With the help of his parents, he discovered his hunk was not a rock, but a piece of ambergris, a substance barfed or pooped up by sperm whales.

As disgusting as that sounds, the substance is actually in demand with perfume makers as it helps prolong the scent of perfume. That's why a pound of the whale waste sells for as much as $10,000.

Naysmith's piece of cetacean upchuck has been estimated to be worth as much as $63,000, but, according to his dad, Alex Naysmith, they are still researching the product.

“He is into nature and is really interested in it. We have discovered it is quite rare and are waiting for some more information from marine biology experts,” Naysmith, Sr., said, according to AsianTown.net.

That isn't stopping him from dreaming about how to spend his newfound riches. Currently, he is considering building some kind of a shelter for animals.

watch video here:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/28/charlie-naysmith-whale-vomit_n_1837241.html?utm_hp_ref=weird-news

How to Make High-End Perfumes Without Whale Barf

ScienceDaily (Apr. 5, 2012) — University of British Columbia researchers have identified a gene in balsam fir trees that could facilitate cheaper and more sustainable production of plant-based fixatives and scents used in the fragrance industry and reduce the need for ambergris, a substance harvested from whale barf.

When sperm whales consume sharp objects, such as seashells and fish bones, their gut produces a sticky substance to protect their digestive organs. They then regurgitate the mixture -- much like cats throwing up fur balls -- and the vomit, reacting with seawater, turns into rock-like objects that wash ashore. These are collected and refined for their fixative properties. Called ambergris, the scented compound is added to high-end perfumes to help the fragrance stay on the skin longer.

The discovery was led by Prof. Joerg Bohlmann and postdoctoral research associate Philipp Zerbe at UBC's Michael Smith Laboratories. Details are published in the April 6 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

"The use of ambergris in the fragrance industry has been controversial," says Bohlmann, who is a professor of Botany and Forest Sciences. "First of all, it's an animal byproduct and the use of such in cosmetics has been problematic, not to mention it comes from the sperm whale, an endangered species."

Rad on:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120405075357.htm