14 DAY TRIAL // Recently, a man strolling with his dog on a beach on the island of Anglesey off the north-west coast of Wales happened upon a chunk of whale vomit.
Rather than walk the other way, the man picked it up. This turned out to be a most inspired decision as, in a couple of weeks, on September 25, the nasty-looking lump is to be auction off and could fetch as much as ₤7,000 (€9,600 / $10,800).
Why would anyone pay this much for whale vomit?
The technical term for this lump of whale vomit, said to weigh around 1 kilogram (shy over 2 pounds) and measure 8 x 6 inches (20 x 15 centimeters), is ambergris.
We, regular folks, have no use for such byproducts of a sperm whale's intestines - and apparently, neither do the marine mammals, seeing how they either puke it or, well, poop it out - but the perfume industry has quite a soft spot for the substance.
You see, ambergris is used to give expensive perfumes a musky fragrance. The science of perfumes has come a long way in recent years, but researchers have not yet managed to recreate the effects that ambergris has on aromas in the lab.
Interestingly, such chunks of whale vomit are more valuable the older they are. This is because, as time passes, they become even muskier and are, therefore, better suited for creating perfumes. New lumps, however, smell a bit foul.
Apart from giving perfumes a musky scent, ambergris has been shown to prolong the duration of fragrances. No wonder the perfume industry can't have enough of it.
Wildlife researchers suspect sperm whales have evolved to secrete this substance in their intestines to protect themselves from having their digestive tract injured by hard, sharp objects such as the beaks of squid they sometimes eat.
Ambergris usually sells for a whole lot of money
Wales Online tells us that, not long ago, another lump of ambergris discovered lying on a beach in Lancashire was auctioned off for an astounding ₤100,000 (€137,400 / $154,000).
This other chunk of whale vomit weighed around 2.7 kilograms (roughly 6 pounds). Not at all surprisingly, it was bought by somebody working in the perfume industry.
