Originally published at: Police seize 8 kilograms of whale poop worth more than $1 million | Boing Boing
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Er, I didn’t think ambergris is considered feces. It is ambergris.
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Definitely vomit.
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A whale hairball?
Given its value, and the number of recent seizures, I wouldn’t be surprised if counterfeit ambergris is already a thing. It shouldn’t be that hard to fake.
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So, there exists a potential job which consists of sailing around the world, with no set agenda other than following the migration of sperm whale pods, collecting whatever ambergris is pooped out, and make millions in the process?
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I don’t understand the rationale for making ambergris trade illegal. As I understand it, not only is it expressed from the whale rather than ummm taken out by force, but it has to be floating around on the ocean for years to develop from foul whale tonsil stone to perfume ingredient. So there’s no way it’s trade could lead to whale hunting. Right? Maybe I’m not enterprising enough.
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Hmm, it usually comes out of the butt and smells like poop when fresh… sounds like poop vomit to me!
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I think the usual method was to kill whales, and hope that you can get some ambergriis in the process. Often stories of ambergris finds state that it was found in a whale’s carcass, implying that the whale died of natural causes, though “collision with ship” seems just as likely,.
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Maybe it’s a little like the migratory birds treaty act. Certain aspects of the law seem absurd, but the level of protection is needed due to the harm humans were doing. Does picking up a wild bird feather from the ground and keeping it actually harm the bird? No, but without the law people were decimating wild bird populations for the sake of a fancy hat.
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No. As long as there’s a hint of a demand, and a hope of getting life changingly rich, there’s an impulse to maximize that hope by industrializing the process,
Why hunt birds indiividually when you can kill a whole flock all at once with a 2 gauge punt gun? Why search around for the mythical “elephant graveyards” when you can shoot elephants and harvest the ivory right then and there? Why search around for whale carcasses when you can produce the carcasses yourself with harpoons?
I will gladly sell 8kg of any of my bodily secretions for half that price.
Contact me. We can make a deal. Offers accepted.
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I’d never heard of this before, but that’s one helluva gun. Love this quote from the article, " ‘Used for duck hunting’ isn’t the right expression for aiming this piece of artillery in the general direction of a flock of ducks, firing, and spending the rest of the day picking up the carcasses."
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Explained in the article
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Only a small bowel obstruction could lead to vomit that is also poop.
Note to self… Never get a small bowel obstruction.
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Anyone looking for a good read Floating Gold : The Search for Ambergris, The Most Elusive Natural Substance in the World by Christopher Kemp is worth your time. It’s a fascinating book about the history of ambergris and his hunt for a piece of it washed up on a beach.
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It’s still not entirely certain how it is produced. Ambergris itself is produced by long periods of [whatever] being exposed to oxygen, seawater and sunlight.
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I’d like 8kg of fresh cerebrospinal fluid please.
Fresh/frozen etc… won’t do it. We’ll need to collect it in one sitting.
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