Dead whale found in Canary Islands hid treasure worth half a million euros in its belly

A dead whale washed up on the shores of the Canary Islands in Spain. Finding out the cause of his death, they found a real treasure worth 500,000 euros inside.

Fernandez Rodriguez, head of the Institute for Animal Health and Food Safety at the University of Las Palmas, suspected the animal died due to digestive problems. Examining the whale’s large intestine to confirm this, the scientist found something solid inside. Imagine his surprise when this “something” turned out to be a huge gem – amber. Rodriguez describes him:

“What I got out was a stone about 50-60 centimeters in diameter and weighing 9.5 kilograms.”

Ambergris is a rare substance known as “floating gold” that has been the holy grail of perfumers for centuries. A piece of amber discovered by Fernandez is worth approximately 500,000 euros!

Whales consume huge amounts of squid and cuttlefish, most of which are not digested and are discarded. However, some remain in the intestines of the whale and, over the years, combine to form amber. But this is not always the case. When whaling began in the early 19th century, it was discovered that only one in about a hundred sperm whales was capable of “producing” amber.

Sometimes, as in this case, the stone becomes too large, causing the intestines to rupture and the whale to die. Fernandez, who has performed autopsies on over 1,000 whales, noted that he killed the whale with amber-induced sepsis.

The US, Australia and India have tabooed the amber trade as part of a ban on whaling and exploitation. The Las Palmas Institute is looking for a buyer, writes CNN Greece, and its head hopes that the proceeds from the sale will go to help those affected by the volcanic eruption in La Palma in 2021: