The occurrence of ambergris in sperm whales caught by Soviet whaling flotillas

Abstract

Ambergris is a solid waxy secretion of the digestive system of sperm whales, historically used in the perfume industry. The original documentation of 29 cruises made by the scientific groups of the Soviet whaling flotillas “Slava”, “Soviet Ukraine” and “Yuri Dolgoruky”, between 1961 and 1978 were analyzed for the presence of ambergris. In total, 59 814 sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) were examined, with ambergris found in 240 specimens (0.4 %), of which 159 were males (0.44 %, n = 35 994) and 81 females (0.34 %, n = 23 820). The average weight of ambergris was 18.3 kg (17.9 kg in males and 19 kg in females). Two isolated sperm whale herds, south of Madagascar and south of New Zealand and Tasmania, contained the largest ambergris secretions.