Whale Pee Is Good for the Ocean, Study Finds

Whales make some of the longest, most unforgiving migrations in the world. The World Wildlife Fund reports that one humpback traveled over 11,500 miles in one year between its summer feeding area and its winter breeding ground. It turns out that whales also nourish the ocean during their lengthy treks. A new study [PDF] in Nature Communications shows that they produce significant sources of ocean nutrients through their urine and other effluvia.

According to Oceanographic Magazine, scientists determined that many baleen whales, including humpback, gray, and right whales, spread over 4000 metric tons of nutrients in total during their migrations from polar areas to nutrient-poor tropical regions. Such nutrients include nitrogen, an essential energy source for photosynthetic organisms like algae, bacteria, and archaea (single-celled microorganisms that look like bacteria). An example of nitrogen transfer in action involves pregnant North Pacific humpback whales, which gain about 14 kilograms (approximately 30 pounds) a day through their diet and burn off nearly 100 kilograms (around 220 pounds) daily as they nurse. When the gigantic animals pee, they release nitrogen and other beneficial elements. And whales pee a lot—fin whales, for instance, typically produce over 250 gallons of urine daily.

The study suggests that these marine mammals are even better at transferring chemical elements from one part of the world's oceans to another than Earth's natural processes, such as currents and upwellings. Whale populations also produce over 45,000 metric tons of organic matter (via cast-off placentas and their carcasses), which may be used as a carbon and energy source for marine microorganisms, as per the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. 

These findings point toward whales conducting the longest transports of nutrients of any mammal. The study authors also found that shed whale skin serves as a food source for some birds and fish, but the scale of this nutrient contribution needs further research.

Whale urine isn’t the only waste that’s useful to the ocean. The feces of baleen whales also come with environmental perks. At the bottom of the marine food chain is algae, which needs iron to grow. The aquatic plant is the main food source for krill consumed by baleen whales when they float near the ocean’s surface. Because whales eat tons of krill, the mammals‘ poop contains a lot of iron, which fertilizes the algae and restarts the food cycle.  

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