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

[Drango]

Did the whale try and blame it on the family dog?

[wysiwyg]

OKC: worse than an airburst
JS: Just dont teach whales how to light 'em

No kidding, talk about an "airburst!" Natural fuel-air bomb? ROFL

[Tijeras_Slim]

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

[HIDEK6]

The answer is "W - O - M - B."

Alex, "How do you spell what a whale fart sounds like?"

[FrogMom]

My daughter is a marine biologist. I've been known to tease her about studying fish farts. I've saved this picture for her.

Yes, I know whales aren't fish, but the pic is too good to pass up!

[Seeking the truth]

Gorp?

[Dutchgirl]

Haven't scientists concluded that methane is a leading contributor to global warming...these whales must be stopped!!!

[oyez]

Whale flatulence stuns scientists

Women and minorities hardest hit.

[Cloud William]

Hmmm, maybe the marine biologists have been incorrectly identifying "whalesong" for decades.

[Doc Savage]

"I'll have a 3 ton krill burger with onions and planton beans. And gimme a 500 gallon Neptune Ale to wash that down with..............and oh yeah, gimme some of that
San Cabo Clam and Jalapeno Sauce..............and a Pepcid
please!"

[sauropod]

ROFLOL!

[BluH2o]

What ... no global warning ... ozone depletion alert?

[Destructor]

What a boon to mankind! I wonder how much of our tax money was used to fund this study?

[FreedomPoster]

Just damn!

[Night Hides Not]

Wow!!! This thread definitely qualifies as breaking news.

[xp38]

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

[Shadowfax]

Looks like a game of Pull My Fin.

[ZviTheWise]

Our tax dollars at work (though the photo should make a great ZOT placeholder).

[small_l_libertarian]

My dog was farting in Technicolor yesterday (I told my sweetie that if farts were colored, these would have been tie-dyed!). It was insanely bad - I had to keep getting up and leaving the room! (He's not one of those gross dogs that does it all the time and you get used to it - he just all of a sudden started lettin' 'em rip!) It's been raining a lot and the yard is full of all kinds of mushrooms - I think he may have gotten into some that disagreed with him. Sorry to post a novel about the horrible smell of my dog - just felt the need to share. I won't let it happen again. :-)

[xp38]

The taxpayers paying for this would be Australian not American.