'Floating Gold' Worth Over $500,000 Found Inside Washed-Up Sperm Whale

Experts have found a rare and valuable substance sometimes referred to as "floating gold" inside a dead sperm whale. The animal washed ashore on the Spanish island of La Palma—located in the Canary Island archipelago off the coast of Northwest Africa—last month. A team of veterinary pathologists from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC) arrived at the site of the stranding to try to work out why the whale died. The experts initially ruled out acute trauma caused by human activities, so the investigation shifted to focus on natural causes, according to the university.

It was during these investigations that Antonio Fernández, head of the Institute of Animal Health and Food Security (IUSA) at ULPGC, found a large lump of the rare substance, known as ambergris. The hard lump, which Fernández found in the whale's colon, measured around 20 to 24 inches in diameter and weighed roughly 21 pounds. This piece has an estimated value of €500,000, or around $545,000. "The waves were washing over the whale. Everyone was watching when I returned to the beach, but they didn't know that what I had in my hands was ambergris," Fernández told U.K. newspaper The Guardian. Ambergris is a strange, waxy substance with an almost rock-like appearance and a strong odor that is produced in the digestive system of sperm whales.

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The substance, which is sometimes found floating in the ocean or washed up on beaches around the world, has long been highly prized by humans. In the past, ambergris has been used as a medicine and even an aphrodisiac. Perfumers have also, for centuries, highly valued ambergris because the substance has properties that can help scents to last longer. But today, natural ambergris has largely been replaced by synthetic alternatives in all but the most expensive perfumes, due to issues of cost and availability. Sperm whales eat large quantities of cephalopods, such as squid and cuttlefish, which have beaks and other body parts that cannot be digested. Most of the time, the whales vomit out these parts. But on rare occasions, they move through the intestines of a whale. Experts think that whales produce ambergris in these situations to smooth the passage of these hard objects and protect their internal organs. The substance is uncommon, though, and found in less than 5 percent of sperm-whale carcasses. The ambergris may eventually pass through the rectum of the whale, but in some cases, it can cause a dangerous obstruction, which can prove fatal. In the case of the whale found in La Palma, Fernández said the ambergris blockage caused injury to the animal's colon that eventually resulted in sepsis, and finally, death. IUSA is now looking for a buyer to come in. The institute hopes that any funds raised would go toward helping victims of the volcanic eruptions that occurred in La Palma in 2021, causing widespread damage, Fernández said. Over the course of his career, Fernández has conducted autopsies on more than 1,000 whales—including 50 sperm whales—but he had never come across ambergris before, highlighting the rarity of the substance. "This is a unique case in my more-than-30 years of business and thousands of autopsies performed," Fernández told National Geographic España. Update 07/05/23, 2:31 p.m. ET: This article was updated with a new photo.