From AFP who apparently have a darn near exclusive deal with Yahoo in the U.S.
Yemen fishermen hit jackpot with million-dollar find in whale's belly
For Yemeni fisherman Fares Abdulhakeem and his friends, the day was like any other as they headed out to sea to earn a living in the war-torn country -- until they hit the jackpot in the belly of a whale.
Abdulhakeem related how he was among 35 fishermen who stumbled upon a floating sperm whale carcass in February, about 26 kilometres (16 miles) off the coast of the southern city of Aden.
He said they dragged the dead mammal back to shore, where they sliced it open and struck "floating gold", or ambergris, a rare substance formed in the whale's digestive system which is used in making perfume.
The 127-kilogram (280-pound) lump of ambergris was sold to an Emirati businessman for more than $1.5 million -- an unimaginable sum for many living in what the UN says is one of the world's poorest countries.
Some of the money was used to help those in need in the community, while the rest was split among the group of fishermen.
Yemeni fishermen have traditional knowledge that ambergris -- a waxy substance used to stabilise the scent in perfumes -- can be found in sperm whales, but actually coming across one is a vanishingly rare event.....
....MUCH MORE
Somehow related:
"British town uses Oregon’s ‘exploding whale’ fiasco to teach social distancing"
From the New York Post:
A town in England used Oregon’s “exploding whale” incident to teach a lesson about the importance of social distancing during the coronavirus outbreak.....MUCH MORE
The Doncaster Council shared the tale of a sperm whale that died and washed ashore near the city of Florence, Ore., in November 1970. City officials attempted to blow up the 45-foot, 8-ton mammal – a plan that went “horribly wrong,” the council said in a thread on Twitter.
At the time, the Oregon State Highway Department decided to use 20 cases of dynamite to disintegrate the mammal. They believed seagulls and other scavengers would clean up any remains....
The on-the-scene reportage of the event is quite amazing.
