Found a block of 'floating gold' worth nearly 13 billion VND in the belly of a sperm whale

When a sperm whale carcass washed up on a beach on the Spanish island of La Palma recently, no one imagined that a treasure would be found inside its gut.

Rough seas and high tides made a necropsy difficult, but Antonio Fernandez Rodriguez, head of the Institute of Veterinary Medicine and Food Security at Las Palmas University, was determined to find out why the whale died.

Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

Suspecting a digestive problem, Mr. Rodriguez examined the animal's intestines and found something hard stuck in the intestines. "What I took out was a stone about 50-60 cm in diameter, weighing 9.5 kg," Mr. Rodriguez said, adding that what he was holding in his hand was ambergris, according to The Guardian on July 4.

Ambergris is a rare substance, often called “floating gold,” that has been sought after by perfumers for centuries. Sperm whales eat large amounts of squid and cuttlefish, most of which are indigestible and vomited out. However, some remains in the whale’s intestines and over the years binds together to form ambergris.

Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

This substance smells like sandalwood and can retain its scent for a long time because of ambrein, so it is favored by perfumers. Only one in 100 sperm whales produces ambergris. The US, Australia and India have banned the trade of ambergris as part of a ban on whaling.

This substance is sometimes excreted and floats in the sea, hence the name “floating gold”. However, sometimes it grows so large that it punctures the intestines, killing the whale, as happened in the case of La Palma. Mr Rodriguez, who has examined the carcasses of more than 1,000 whales, believes that an infection caused by the ambergris killed the whale. The ambergris Mr Rodriguez found is estimated to be worth 500,000 euros (about 12.8 billion VND).

Mr Rodriguez's institute is looking for a buyer and the expert hopes the funds raised will be used to help victims of the La Palma volcano eruption in 2021, which caused more than €800m in damage and destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses.