Your fun fact for today is whale vomit is incredibly valuable.
A Lancashire couple are currently in negotiations with buyers after finding a chunk of whale vomit and could earn up to £50,000 for their discovery.
The reason behind the high asking price? Whale vomit (otherwise known as ambergris) is an exceptionally sought after ingredient for perfumers. Apparently ambergis can make the scent of perfumes last longer, and its rarity makes any sources found that much more expensive.
For Gary and Angela Williams, stumbling across 1.57kg of the stuff walking along Middleton Sands beach near Morecambe Bay could see them net a very tidy profit.
“It was down a section of the beach where no one really walks,” Gary Williams, an engineer, told the Mirror. “It smells too bad, though. It’s a very distinctive smell, like a cross between squid and farmyard manure.”
The couple hope to use the money to buy a static caravan.
But don’t go rushing to the beach on the lookout for whale vomit so quickly. Ambergris comes from hardened intestinal slurry from a sperm whale and takes YEARS to form.
Thought to protect the animal from the hard and sharp objects it eats, what’s worse for would-be perfumers is it can float in the ocean for years before washing ashore. Even then, you have to make sure you don’t break the law in many nations that forbid whale trading.
This is a lucky find and them some. Congrats to both Gary and Angela!
