Carbon neutral: A sperm whale swims in the Southern Ocean, leaving a cloud of poo behind it. (Flinders University, Adelaide: Peter Gill)
Whale poo fights climate change: study
The fight to stop whaling has been boosted with new research showing the southern ocean sperm whale can remove large amounts of carbon from the atmosphere.
A study has found that instead of increasing carbon levels through respiration, the sperm whale offsets its emissions by defecating.Flinders University researcher Trish Lavery says the poo is rich in iron, which stimulates phytoplankton to grow, and that traps the carbon dioxide.
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