First they thought it was an old tree stump. Then they thought it was a cyst from a large marine animal. Eventually, they realized that they’d stumbled upon a 32-pound chunk of   ambergris   that could be worth in excess of $300,000! And they found it on a beach in western South Australia. Ambergris is a rare substance produced in the intestines of sperm whales. Scientists believe it is produced in order to aid in passing hard, bony materials that a whale may have consumed, such as squid beaks. However, chunks of it are occasionally belched out and set afloat in the world’s oceans. The material has a sweet, earthy odor that was prized by perfume makers before synthetic replacements were created.  Here are a couple articles covering this recent find: West Coast whale ‘vomit’ could be worth millions “Moby sick” find lands fragrant fortune  (see below) “Moby sick” find lands fragrant fortune Wed Jan 25, 2006 9:52 AM ET MELBOURNE (Reuters) – An Australian couple could reap a fragrant fortu

No explosions or man-made screw-ups to laugh at this time. No, unfortunately, this is just the sad story of a 5-ton northern bottle-nosed whale that somehow found itself swimming up the Thames River in England. From the river’s banks, people watched in awe as the 18-foot creature swam through towns and cities. As it became evident that the whale was disoriented and was unlikely to find its own way back to the sea, a rescue mission was put into action. Cradled by a giant sling with pontoons on each side, the whale was hoisted onto a barge and began its return trip to the Thames Estuary and the salty sea beyond. It began convulsing and died just a few miles from where it was to be freed. The BBC has a series of articles that cover the entire incident: Whale spotted in central London Thames whale amazes and intrigues Fears for health of Thames whale Lost whale dies after rescue bid Dead whale is examined by experts

Register-Guard  columnist  Bob Welch  is perhaps the Exploding Whale’s biggest fan (besides yours truly, of course). So it should come as no surprise that he couldn’t resist including one final reference to the whale in his last column of 2005 in which he recounted a list of the best quotes from the year. Bob selected a classic comment from the ever-entertaining  feedback pages where web surfers like yourself are encouraged to leave their thoughts and opinions about the Exploding Whale and this website. (Ironically, the entry he selected was actually from 1999. Shh! I won’t tell if you don’t!). You can read the column here:  “Some quotes to ponder from 2005” . After you’ve done that, why not  leave a comment of your own ?