According to NHK TV station , residents of Odawara City, Kanagawa Prefecture, discovered a whale carcass on the beach. It was very large, 14 meters long, and looked like a small hill when viewed up close!
What kind of whale is the dead whale?
14 meter long whale, there are quite a lot of whale species to choose from. For example, the blue whale can be more than 30 meters long, fin whale can also reach about 20 meters, there are also right whale , bowhead whale As well as sperm whale , etc., their adult bodies are all behemoths that can exceed 10 meters.
However, judging from the published picture, it should be a sperm whale. This is the largest toothed whale in the world. In other words, except for the sperm whale, all the whales mentioned above have no teeth. They are all filter feeders and usually eat small fish and shrimps. Only sperm whales can have a thrilling hunting process.
The male whale of the sperm whale is relatively large, up to 14-18 meters in length (about 40-60 tons in weight). Some extremely large male whales can even exceed 20 meters in length and weigh more than 70 tons, and they usually swim in water depths exceeding 1,000 It hunts in meters of water, and its favorite prey is giant squid.
So the giant squid left sucker marks on their bodies, and the sharp claws at the top of the tentacles made the sperm whales covered with bruises, but they still enjoyed it and never flinched! Therefore, this kind of whale with extremely "strong psychology" has very tenacious vitality!
giant whale died, what is the reason?
On July 6 and July 11, Zhejiang Linhai and Wenling encountered melon-headed whales stranded twice, with a total of 14 whales. Except for 3 whales that were stranded for too long and died, the other whales all returned to the ocean, but this time in The sperm whale on Kanagawa beach was not so lucky. It is said that it died before it was stranded. According to statistics from marine biologists, the causes of accidental death of sperm whales are as follows:
1. This cause of death is also relatively common due to disease, such as bacterial infection.
2. Those who were injured by ship propellers or hit by ships
3. Those who died of physical exhaustion due to malnutrition
In addition to accidental death and subsequent accidental stranding, the reasons were also due to illness or getting lost, or problems with the echolocation system, or the lead whale Navigation problems led to stranding or mass stranding. The world's more famous mass stranding events:
1, In June 2015, 337 Sai whales were found stranded and died collectively on the Patagonia beach in southern Chile;
2, September 21, 2020 On Japan, 470 whales were stranded on the west coast of Tasmania in Australia, and more than 380 whales died
sporadic strandings. Many of the deaths were caused by a large number of plastic bags found in the abdomen, leading to malnutrition and death. Humanity's bottomless pollution of the ocean is inseparable.
Is there any relationship between the stranded sperm whale
and Japan's nuclear leakage?
Some friends believe that it is related to Japan's nuclear leakage. On September 8, 2021, Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare announced that it was determined that two men suffered from throat cancer after participating in the cleanup work of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. There is a causal relationship between the cleanup work, so it is recognized as a work-related injury. This is the first time that Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has identified laryngeal cancer work-related injuries related to the Fukushima nuclear accident.
So some friends think that the death of this whale is related to the nuclear leak, but in fact, the wastewater from Fukushima's nuclear radiation will not kill the whale immediately. If such a large species starts to die, then it is estimated that all the fish in the Pacific Ocean will be killed. Turn it over! But this does not mean that Japan can discharge nuclear wastewater. As long as there is a little conscience, such shameful things should not be done.
How to dispose of the carcass of a sperm whale?
There are two interesting little stories about the disposal of whale carcasses. The first one happened in the United States. In November 1970, a 14-meter-long, 8-ton sperm whale stranded and died on Florence Beach, Oregon. At that time, the Oregon Highway The Highways Agency decided to use explosives to dispose of the whale carcass, so they buried hundreds of kilograms of explosives and detonated it.
As a result, the power of the explosion far exceeded expectations. The splashing whale carcass and pieces of meat fell on the nearby highway. Many cars were damaged, and the people watching the explosion were covered in blood from the splashing whale. It was really smelly. I couldn’t get rid of the smell even after three baths at home! The cause of the explosion was that enough methane gas had accumulated in the sperm whale's body at that time. When the explosive detonated, the whale's body exploded at the same time.
Only showy Americans can do such a shameful thing. However, after being reported by the local media and organized the explosion, Engineer George Thornton was directly discredited. What’s very interesting is that the locals are whales. A monument was erected at the location of the explosion to "remain infamy for eternity."
On January 24, 2004, a sperm whale stranded on the coast of Taixi Township, Yunlin County, Taiwan Province, my country. The local government planned to transfer it to make a specimen, but it exploded halfway, and the whale carcass flowed half of the street. The smell made people get up and curse at him. (To avoid affecting traffic, the train departed in the early morning).
dug a hole and buried it? Don't, there might be treasure inside!
So it’s easier to dig a hole and bury it on the spot! However, flower growers have an obligation to remind you that if you pick up a sperm whale, you may still make a fortune even if it is dead, because there may be priceless ambergris hidden inside the sperm whale.
Yemen fishermen and the 120 kilograms of ambergris they found in sperm whales
The so-called ambergris is that after the sperm whale eats the giant squid, its sea octopus and sharp claws cannot be digested, so the whale's gastrointestinal tract secretes A large amount of material wraps it up, which should be regarded as a kind of stomach stone or intestinal stone. This material is discharged into the sea after the whale dies. After complex biochemical reactions, it turns into extremely expensive ambergris. fragrant.
- In August 2012, a boy found a 600g piece of top-quality ambergris on a beach in Dorset, which was auctioned for 40,000 pounds.
- In March 2020, Li from Langdao Village, Lanyu, Taiwan, picked up a gray and white piece of top-grade ambergris weighing about 4 kilograms on the beach, worth more than 200,000 US dollars. html On June 6, 2020, Turkish media "daily sabah" (Daily Morning News) reported that 35 fishermen from al-Khaisah village in Yemen discovered a rare piece of "ambergris" inside the body of a sperm whale floating in the Gulf of Aden ”, which is said to be worth over $1.5 million.
So there are these cases. If you see a sperm whale carcass, as long as it is not bulging and about to explode, dig it up and have a look. If you can find this "ambergris" in the gastrointestinal tract of the whale, you can at least make a small fortune. Wealth, maybe even big fortune! However, the probability of finding ambergris in a sperm whale carcass is still relatively low, only about 5%, but this is better than 0%, right?
