![](https://www.nextias.com/ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/5382595Screenshot.png)
In News
- The Crime Branch in Pune and seized 550 grams of ambergris, also known as ‘floating gold’.
What is Ambergris?
- Ambergris means grey amber in French.
- It is sometimes referred to as whale vomit.
- However, Christopher Kemp, the author of ‘Floating gold: A Natural and (unnatural) history of Ambergris’, says this is not right.
- According to him, Ambergris, a solid waxy substance originating in the intestine of the sperm whale (Physeter catodon).
- As per Kemp, Ambergris is produced only by an estimated one per cent of sperm whales.
- It floats around the surface of the water body and at times settles on the coast.
- German physician Franz Schwediawer in 1783 called it “preternaturally hardened whale dung”.
- This excretion is so valuable it is referred to as floating gold.
- Investigating agencies from across India estimate its value to be somewhere between Rs 1 to 2 crores per kilogram, depending on the purity and quality.
- Why is it so expensive?
- The reason for its high cost is its use in the perfume market, especially to create fragrances like musk.
- It being extremely rare contributes to its high demand and high price in the international market.
- Ancient Egyptians used it as incense. It is also believed to be used in some traditional medicines.
- The reason for its high cost is its use in the perfume market, especially to create fragrances like musk.
- Legalities and recent cases of seizure in India: There is a ban on possession and trade of ambergris in countries like the USA, Australia and India, in several other countries it is a tradable commodity, though with limitations in some of them.
- In the Indian context, sperm whales are a protected species under Schedule 2 of the Wildlife Protection Act and possession or trade of any of its by-products, including Ambergris and its byproducts, is illegal under provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
Sperm whales (Physeter catodon)
Image Courtesy: IWC |
Source: IE
Previous article
Vertical Launch Short Range Surface to Air Missile (VL-SRSAM)
Next article
Agriculture Infrastructure Fund