Whale flatulence stuns scientists

News.Com ^ | August 14, 2003 | Simon Benson

[joesnuffy]

Whale flatulence stuns scientists

By Simon Benson August 14, 2003

IT'S one of the unfortunate consequences of being a mammal - flatulence.

And, more unfortunately for a group of whale researchers, nature took its course right under their noses - literally.

The researchers claim this is the first photograph of a minke whale letting one go in the icy waters of Antarctica.
It was taken from the bow of a research vessel.

"We got away from the bow of the ship very quickly ... it does stink," said Nick Gales, a research scientist from the Australian Antarctic Division.

However, the episode did not detract from their mission, which was to collect DNA from whale dung and attach satellite tracking devices in the first research of its kind to track where the creatures go and what and how much they eat.

Already some incredible stories about whales are emerging.

One pigmy blue whale wearing a satellite tracking tag was found to be returning to a former population off southern Australia which was thought to have been hunted to extinction by Russian whalers.

"Every piece of this research is surprising," said Dr Gales.

"Some is confirming what we thought. We know a lot about humpbacks, but we don't know anything about where they are going.

"Internationally there is a big push ... saying there are now too many whales eating too many fish and so we have to kill them.

"It's important that we determine what impact whales actually have on a fishery such as krill ... and how that fishery interacts with the whale."

The Daily Telegraph

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

If this isn't in breaking news it should be. :)

That should be "wind-breaking" news.

[Ditter]

Years ago we watched a Manatee in a (pitifully) small tank swim round & round, farting constantly. We had a good laugh over it.

[tj005]

yeah, THATS lower than whale sh**

[MeekOneGOP]

[tj005]

Yeah.. govt study of whale gas

[cajun-jack]

If i knew that i would be on a govt grant doing "research" too!!! lol

[xp38]

Whatever...after 4 months it seems to be lingering.

[Wombat101]

Try washing down fried fish with a nice, cold glass of milk...We're talking Saturn V power here...

[fso301]

And I thought this was going to be an article about Rosie O'Donnel

[tj005]

"All the while the whales have been laughing it up... "Those morons thought we were singing!"

Whale Song? hahahahahaha

[stripes1776]

When a person swallows too much air or eats foods that the human digestive system cannot digest easily gas become trapped in his/her stomach.

When I was in grade school, I saw "Gone With the Wind" for the first time. I was puzzled when Scarlet excused herself during a party because she had a case of the vapors. At the time I thought it must be some exotic disease that only beautiful southern women come down with.

At least now I know what the title of the movie was really talking about.

[hoagy62]

"People fart the most in their sleep."

What's really bad is when your farts are so rank you can smell them in your sleep. That's happened to me a few times. You dream with this horrid stench in your dream, then you wake up...and realize the stench was no dream..more like a nightmare.

I can only imagine what a whale fart smells like. Hopefully, I will never know.

[My back yard]

Other popular names for farts or farting include: gassers, stinkers, ...

Ok, so, in TTT when Sam refers to Gollum as a 'stinker', he means?