“Sperm whale waste isn’t much to look at — a diarrhea-like substance with a few squid beaks floating around — but new research has found it removes carbon from the atmosphere, helping to offset greenhouse gases that have been tied to global warming.
Sperm whales in the Southern Ocean release 220,462 tons of carbon when they exhale carbon dioxide at the water’s surface, but their poo stimulates the drawdown of 440,925 tons of carbon, according to the research, published in the latest Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
These ocean giants and certain other marine mammals may therefore be among the most environmentally beneficial animals on the planet.
“If Southern Ocean sperm whales were at their historic levels, meaning their population size before whaling, we would have an extra 2 million tonnes (2,204,623 tons) of carbon being removed from our atmosphere each and every year,” lead author Trisha Lavery Told Discovery News.”
Read more at Discovery News
well then, once more: **** you japanese governement. Your population doesnt even support whaling, so why dont you stop it?
If only we humans weren’t buggering up the wonderful cycling process. Bastards we are.
A quick look at the maths seems … odd.
Each whale removes around 220,000 tons of carbon. If whale levels were at previous levels they’d be sequestering an additional 2,204,623 tons of carbon. 2,200,000 / 220,000 is 10. So according to these figures we’re 10 sperm whales down on historic levels.
Something seems wrong with the numbers there.
Anyway, seems like yet another (as if any more were needed) good reason to save the whales.
SPERM wales?? I never found them large enough to call them wales .. They look like sperm? Let me check that for a moment … Nah, not in the least. Oh, it means also a certain type of wale … Weird .. Will both type of sperms have the same traits when it comes to cleaing .. I guess not.
I see to wales a bit more as the vacuum cleaners of the ocean and having read the article the sperm wale is even more superior in this area I guess.
too bad it cant remove oil spills!
Well, blimey……who’d have thought it?
LC x
Thank you for posting this!!
If people could sign the petition to stop the whaling in Japan.
Sign it through here – http://www.socialvibe.com/#/causes/13
And please pass it on to your friends.
These creatures have done nothing to harm us and we are taking their lives.
….and yet all that ‘research’ the Japanese do on whales failed to spot this? What have they been doing? Eating ‘em or something? Oh wait….
@Zoe – Sure I can sign another petition, thanks for the link. I started after the 1993 Fareo slaughters, still have a long way to go. Maybe Lumley could get something cemented.