No one knows what might be hidden inside whales, which, when they die, usually wash up on various shores. This is what happened on a beach in La Palmawhere researchers decided to look for a washed-up dead whale and didn’t believe what they saw was real.
Opening the entrails of the dead whale, they saw how inside her was hidden a precious treasure. The sea and waves made it difficult to perform a necropsy, but Antonio Fernández RodrÃguez, head of the Institute of Animal Health and Food Safety at the University of Las Palmas, was determined to find out why the whale had died.
Suspect someone digestive problem, inspected the animal’s large intestine – and felt something hard stuck to a section of the intestine. “What I took out was a stone about 50-60 centimeters in diameter and weighing 9.5 kilograms,” he said. “The waves were sailing over the whale. Everyone was watching when I got back to the beach, but they did not know that what I had in my hands was amber».
Amber is a rare substance, often known as floating gold, which has been the holy grail of perfumers for centuries. The grain Fernández held in his hand was worth approx 500,000 euros.
How is amber produced in the whale?
The origin of amber, which is produced from approx 1 in 100 whales of this kind, was only discovered when whaling began in the early 19th century. Whales eat large quantities of squid and cuttlefish, most of which they cannot digest and waste. Some of them, however, remain within her even over the years they join in the intestines of the whale, forming amber.
This is sometimes expelled, which is why amber is usually found in the sea. But sometimes, as in the case of the whale in La Palma, it grows too large, resulting in break the gut and kill the whale.
Amber has a woody scent like sandalwood, but also contains an odorless alcohol that can stabilize and prolongs the life of perfumes, which makes it popular among perfumers. The US, Australia and India have banned the amber trade as part of a ban on whaling and exploitation.
What will become of the precious amber?
Fernández, who has performed autopsies on more than 1,000 whales, said that sepsis caused by the amber killed the whale.
The institute is looking for a buyer and Fernández said they hope the funds raised will go towards helping victims of the volcano that erupted in La Palma in 2021, which caused more than 800 million euros in damage and destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses.
“The law is different in every country,” Fernández said, according to the Guardian. “In our case, I hope the money goes to La Palma, where the whale ran aground and died».
Source: News Beast
With 6 years of experience, I bring to the table captivating and informative writing in the world news category. My expertise covers a range of industries, including tourism, technology, forex and stocks. From brief social media posts to in-depth articles, I am dedicated to creating compelling content for various platforms.
