Whale Flatulence Stuns Scientists

[MountainLaurel]

Something amusing to make you smile and take your minds off the current junta and the fact that the U.S. is destroying any international goodwill toward it.

How rude!

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.

I love the fact that there's a photo, and that caption needs to win a press award.

[demnan]

1. That's a whale of a fart! LOL!

Fix your link, by the way.

[MountainLaurel]

2. Never mind

I figured it out.

[SoCalDem]

3. Now we know where all those bubbles are coming from

:)

[Feanorcurufinwe]

4. You definately dont want to have to share a small elevator with this whale

[kmla]

5. I heard that it is the latest thing at the seafood restaurants...

They serve it on seaweed and rice. They call it "Whooshie".

I'm sorry.

:puffpiece:

[oneighty]

6. The most

heart warming story in the lounge today.

I do however think it might call for some of that Jitterbugperfume.

180

[KCDem]

7. so, these scientists are freaked out by whale farts,

but they're mission is to collect DNA from whale poo? Does anyone else find this a bit odd?

[Cush]

10. yup

lol

[Lisa]

14. well, to be "fair and balanced" ...

The reporters wrote that particular headline. Nothing in the quotes from the actual scientists suggests they were particularly freaked.

Delighted at getting that pic, maybe ... that's definitely publishable.

Speaking of whale excrement, I saw glass jars full of it (or rather, a mixture of it and seawater) stacked up on the counter in my friends' lab. It doesn't look as offputting as terrestrial mammal scat ... I probably wouldn't have known what it was if I hadn't been told. ("Hey Lisa -- you know how Dr. xxxx said we couldn't get our sh*t together -- well, here it is!")

[CO Liberal]

8. I'm Sure a Whale Fart Would Stun Just About Anybody

Think about how lethal dog farts are. Multiply that by a hundred or two........

:-)

[SmileyBoy]

9. Shamu did it!!!

Whoever smelt it, delt it....

[GoddessOfGuinness]

11. A little Bean-o in their plankton

might help.

[Lisa]

12. given that there is a bit of a smell around whales ...

.... I can only imagine what the farting would be like.

Brings a whole new meaning to the term "sulphur-bottomed", I bet.

Friends of mine who study grey whales off Vancouver Island were telling me about the time they pulled up their Zodiac near one particularly skanky individual, hoping to get samples of dung or skin flakes, and were gagging.

Said one grad student, "I can't believe a creature that spends its entire life in open water would stink so much!"

And if possible, they smell even worse when they're dead. (I've never attended a beached-carcasse necropsy, but I did accidentally open the fridge of one person who was storing a set of flesh and blubber samples ...)

[THUNDER HANDS]

13. you know what it reminds me of?

The movie "The Ring"

http://news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,3600,277101,00.jpg

[oustemnow]

15. It's actually quite a beautiful photo, isn't it?

If I had a mantel, I would proudly hang that photo above it.