How do whales make ambergris?

Question

Found floating on the ocean. Ambergris is or used to be used in the perfume industry as a perfume base, Used to be that if you found any. You could sell for a lot of money.

Answer 1

Ambergris (Ambra grisea, Ambre gris, ambergrease, or grey amber) is a solid, waxy, flammable substance of a dull grey or blackish color, with the shades being variegated like marble. It possesses a peculiar sweet, earthy odour not unlike isopropyl alcohol. Now largely replaced by synthetics, it is occasionally still used as a fixative in perfumery.


Ambergris occurs as a biliary concretion in the intestines of the sperm whale, and can be found floating upon the sea, on the sea-coast, or in the sand near the sea-coast. Because lumps of ambergris with embedded beaks of giant squid have been found, scientists have theorized that the whale's intestine produces the substance as a means of facilitating the passage of hard, sharp objects that the whale might have inadvertently eaten. Ambergris can be found in the Atlantic Ocean; on the coasts of Brazil and Madagascar; also on the coast of Africa, of the East Indies, mainland China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and the Molucca islands. However, most commercially collected ambergris came from the Bahama Islands, Providence Island, etc. It is also sometimes found in the abdomens of whales.

Answer 2

Ambergris is basically a sort of solidified pus which comes from the infected sinuses of whales. I guess they sort of hawk up a lunger and spit it out. Funny, isn't it, the sort of things the beauty industry convinces women to smear on their faces...?

Answer 3

its something to do with bile in their faeces i think