Whale Ear Wax Records Animal's History
A 10-inch long piece of earwax from a male blue whale has allowed marine biologists at Baylor University to learn about the life of the animal through chemical analysis.
A 10 inch long piece of earwax from a male blue whale has allowed marine biologists at Baylor University to learn about the life of the animal through chemical analysis.
The level of different chemicals that the whale’s body gives off in the wax indicates certain life events like puberty, when the animal fed and fasted, and what kinds of pollutants it encountered at different times.
The earwax reportedly smells very bad, and forms into one firm piece like a candle.
Blue whales are known to swim over thousands of miles of ocean during their lifetimes, so the record of the ocean that they keep is valuable to marine biologists.
There are around 400 whale earplugs in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History for researchers to study now that they know how to analyze them for information about the whale’s life.
One of Baylor University’s marine biologists, Stephen Trumble is quoted as saying: “We have a female earplug from 1964 we're really excited about.”
Studying the earwax from a female whale could tell researchers how many calves she gave birth to, and at what ages she was pregnant.
A 10 inch long piece of earwax from a male blue whale has allowed marine biologists at Baylor University to learn about the life of the animal through chemical analysis.
The level of different chemicals that the whale’s body gives off in the wax indicates certain life events like puberty, when the animal fed and fasted, and what kinds of pollutants it encountered at different times.
The earwax reportedly smells very bad, and forms into one firm piece like a candle.
Blue whales are known to swim over thousands of miles of ocean during their lifetimes, so the record of the ocean that they keep is valuable to marine biologists.
There are around 400 whale earplugs in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History for researchers to study now that they know how to analyze them for information about the whale’s life.
One of Baylor University’s marine biologists, Stephen Trumble is quoted as saying: “We have a female earplug from 1964 we're really excited about.”
Studying the earwax from a female whale could tell researchers how many calves she gave birth to, and at what ages she was pregnant.
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