Sperm Whale Waste Turns into Gold

Produced only in the intestines of male Sperm whales, ambergris is a rare substance that has been used in pharmaceuticals and perfume for thousands of years. Middle Easterners historically powdered and ingested it to increase strength and virility, combat heart and brain ailments. Perfumes such as Chanel No. 5 use it to enrich olfactory notes.

During the Black Death in Europe, people believed that carrying a ball of ambergris could help prevent them from getting the plague as the fragrance covered the smell of the air which was believed to be the cause of plague.

Ambergris is found in lumps of various shapes and sizes, weighing from ½ oz to 100 or more pounds. It can be found floating upon the sea, or in the sand near the coast. Some, but not all, scent qualities of ambergris have been synthesized, so the original remains valuable - commanding prices of $5,000 per pound (even much higher for high-quality samples). A ten-year-old vacationing in Wales recently stumbled across a lump of ambergris worth nearly $6,000.