Students Often Enjoy Gross Subjects

I worked for many years with middle school students and one way to gain their interest was to start by saying: "Today we are going to talk about a species of animal that is protected and at the same time subject of a rather gross subject." This tends to grab the class attention rather quickly, but sets up a bigger discussion.

Typically I would then say, "Has anyone ever heard of Ambergris?" and in most cases today, no students will answer. I then talk about how it can be found floating on the surface of the ocean or even sometimes washing up on a beach. It has a very foul odor and finally I explain that it is whale "throw-up". I explain that it is produced as far as we know only by "sperm whales" and that when found it sometimes will have the beaks of squids embedded in the foul material.

It is thought that the sperm whale may be irritated by the beaks that are left after digesting squids it has eaten or that it might be a natural mechanism used to simply discharge the beaks. I explain that it was at one time very valuable and at one time could have been worth hundreds of dollars per ounce, but has fallen to as little as $3.00 to $15.00 per ounce. I explain that because it comes from a protected species, it is now illegal, to possess, collect, sell, or use ambergris in the United States and that there is now a synthetic substitute that is a fair substitute, but not a perfect substitute. The synthetic substitute is much cheaper than the real thing. Finally I would get to the point of asking the class, what made it so valuable and what was it used for and I tell them that it was at one time used for making the most expensive perfumes in the world.

About this time students usually gasp a bit, but you can be certain that many of them will be telling their mother that evening about this. Ambergris has the ability after cleaning and removing of a foul odor of then being able to hold new great odors for a long period of time. Because of this if a good odor is added to the ambergris it then makes a great base for perfume.

Today, it is not used or sold as part of any perfume in the United States, but there are some countries that would still purchase and use ambergris. The reason that such materials are banned from use is that it is possible that sperm whales would be captured, killed and opened to see if ambergris might be found in the digestive tract. To fully protect the species, the only choice is to ban all products which could be produced by the sperm whale.

There are simple tests that can be conducted on a substance should you wonder if it actually ambergris, but since you can not even possess it, you are better off leaving it alone. This short topic however leads to more discussion about all kinds of whales, protected species, why laws are stated the way they are, what substances we may get from animals and plants, the foods of choice for organisms like sperm whales, and can even then go into other marine topics.

The gross topic of "ambergris" does not even come close to the problems with the whaling industry in general (which students this age and younger should not view and should not be talked about in detail). Whales are still hunted today and is sufficient that students consider the significance of this from a "humane" point of view and it is important for students to learn about protected species. Someday our students will become voters and their future decisions may be affected by what they learn in our classes. They are likely to now "remember" ambergris and why it is now banned to protect the sperm whale.