When a "stink bomb" weighing dozens of tons appears on the beach...

Have you heard of whale fall?

When a whale dies, all things come to life. When a whale dies, its body sinks into the sea and turns into nutrients to nourish all things in the deep sea.

The deep sea is a place where sunlight cannot reach, and the creatures there lack energy sources for survival. A dead whale can provide deep-sea creatures with energy for survival for 4 to 12 months.

A whale fall is like a huge surprise falling from the sky, and it can even support a new ecosystem, which can be called a deep-sea oasis.

Source: News Video

Such a romantic and magnificent death has endowed whales, the largest mammals in the world, with another level of mystery and romantic imagination by humans.

What if the whale didn't sink to the bottom of the ocean?

What happens if a whale dies and washes up on the shore? In fact, whales die in more ways than just "whale falls."

In 2004, in Yunlin County, Taiwan, a giant sperm whale was found floating to the seaside after it died. A local professor sent people to take it away in order to study and dissect it. During transportation, the whale carcass suddenly exploded, and the internal organs and body parts quickly covered the entire street like a blown-up balloon. The scene was a mess, with blood everywhere. The surrounding vehicles parked on the roadside were also dyed red, and the loss was huge. At that time, hundreds of nearby citizens gathered here to watch the sperm whale being packed, but they didn't expect to witness the whale explosion with their own eyes. The most tragic thing was that the unpleasant stench after the whale explosion took several months to basically dissipate...

Some whales sink to the bottom of the sea due to gravity after death, while others float on the sea surface or are stranded on the beach due to the density of their corpses.

For the whale carcasses that did not sink to the bottom of the sea but were washed ashore, what awaits them is a "disaster" that is completely opposite to a whale fall and is too unbearable to look at - a whale explosion.

As the name suggests, a whale explosion is the explosion of a whale carcass. With a loud "bang", the whale carcass explodes, and the blood and internal organs in the body pour out, accompanied by a foul smell... But how could a whale that died peacefully explode?

Why do whales explode?

After a whale dies, its immune system stops working, bacteria multiply in large numbers, and its internal organs and tissues begin to decay. These bacteria will decompose proteins, fats and other substances in the corpse, producing a large amount of corrupt gases such as methane, hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, carbon dioxide, etc.

As the amount of gas increases, the whale's body gradually expands. When it expands to a certain extent, the internal pressure is too great for the body to bear, and the gas in the body will break through the weak parts of the body and explode, resulting in a tragic scene of internal organs and blood gushing out.

Whales eat a lot, and after death, the food remaining in their gastrointestinal tract and their organs and internal organs ferment and rot together, producing a lot of putrefactive gas.

Under direct sunlight outdoors, the bacteria in the body of the corpse will grow and decompose faster, but the whale has thick skin and flesh, so the gas is not easy to leak out. When the gas accumulates to the limit that the skin can withstand, it will explode under the influence of external force.

Whale explosion is also a form of explosion. If you are close to a whale explosion, you can be easily injured by the ejected material. And after the whale explosion, corrupt gases and rotten internal organs will gush out together, which will be a disaster for your nose.

From a macro-environmental perspective, the corrupt gases and decaying materials after a whale explosion will also pollute the environment and are difficult to deal with.

From the poetic whale fall to the horrific whale explosion, the two completely different phenomena brought about by the death of whales are breathtaking.

The whale carcass floats on the sea surface with bloating. In addition to being washed ashore by the waves, it may also attract some other creatures in the sea to eat the whale carcass. After being eaten, the whale carcass slowly sinks, thus completing a romantic whale fall.

No matter what the environment is, if the whale carcass continues to bloat and eventually the skin can no longer withstand the pressure inside the body, a whale explosion will occur.

Of course, there are also cases where whale carcasses floating on the sea surface sink to the bottom of the sea and become whale falls after a whale explosion.

How to collect the body of a whale?

In fact, whale explosion is an occasional natural phenomenon, and encountering a whale explosion while taking a walk on the beach is an extremely low probability event.

If there are whale carcasses washed up on the shore, how should we humans deal with them?

In fact, humans have learned from their mistakes how to properly deal with whale carcasses.

In 2003, a whale was stranded in the United States. At first, they did not take the stranding seriously. They thought of placing a bomb on the side of the whale. The blast generated by the explosion would completely wash the whale carcass to the seashore. However, the plan was not implemented so perfectly. The whale carcass did not hit the seashore when the explosion occurred, but was blown into pieces everywhere after the explosion.

The smell of the exploded whale carcasses was so bad that it took half a month for the stench to dissipate along the coast of the United States. Humans also gained a deeper understanding of the whale explosion phenomenon.

If you encounter a dead whale washed ashore, the correct way to deal with it is to notify the professionals.

Depending on the situation, some stranded whales need to be dissected and made into specimens, while some places will choose to drag the whale carcasses back to the ocean under the premise of suitable conditions to help them complete a whale fall.

When it comes to whales that need to be dissected, the dissectors must first be fully armed, wearing gas masks and waterproof suits, and then proceed to skin the carcasses, perform chemical treatments, and make specimens. During this process, the dissectors must be extremely careful. If they are not careful, they may face the risk of a whale explosion, so this process requires the dissectors to be extremely cautious and careful.

When a whale dies in the ocean, the moment of its demise actually heralds the beginning of countless lives. Even if it is unfortunately stranded, it indirectly provides humans with knowledge about nature. The death of whales is not only of great significance to the marine ecology, but also provides a shining corner of understanding of nature for humans on land.