We benefit from our wonderful relationship with whales

We benefit from our wonderful relationship with whales

To call whale poop wonderful might sound like an oxymoron, but in fact, whale poop is actually pretty darn great.

Releasing fecal matter is not only a necessary part of a whale’s
health, but excrement from whales does wonders for the ecosystem too. Whale poop helps to keep the carbon emissions that occur both naturally and unnaturally under control. Here’s how.

The release of carbon into the atmosphere happens all the time. Carbon is an element that can be found in many things both living and nonliving. In living things carbon is released upon death. Decomposing bodies release the carbon that has been stored inside. But not all carbon emissions occur naturally. While some carbon is a good thing, excessive levels of carbon are not. Man-made, modern conveniences like cars, planes, trucks, and trains, release excessive levels of carbon into the atmosphere. When released carbon exceeds the level of carbon that nature is capable of removing from the atmosphere, then HOUSTON we have a problem. This is where the whales come in.

Whale poop is light in weight and varies in color from a cloudy brown liquid excrement in some whales to a white cluster resembling floating cotton in other whale types. Sometimes the fecal matter is released in a small quantity, but at other times whales can release quite a large load. Once expelled into the environment it goes to work. Living on the ocean’s surface is phytoplankton that pull carbon from the atmosphere. Phytoplankton are tiny, little water plants. Like all living things, they feed off substances existing in their surroundings, which means that their food must therefore come from food sources that linger on the water’s surface too. This is where the poop comes in to play. The whales release poop and phytoplankton consume it. The whales' waste gives them energy to not only give off oxygen, but to also drag carbon from the atmosphere. Voila! We have a healthier balanced ecosystem! And since we breathe oxygen too , we also benefit from this wonderful relationship between whales and phytoplankton. Thank you, marine friends!

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