What is it about?
For the past 200 years the only natural source of ambrien has been considered to be from large build-ups of hardened poo inside around 1% of sperm whales. This paper reports for the first time that ambrein may be more widespread at lower concentrations in the poo from other mammals, such as domestic cattle, giraffe, buffalo and elephants. It was also detected in digested human sewage sludge. Our results suggest that there may be some common microbiological processes occurring in the digestive systems of these mammals.
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Why is it important?
Previously, most ambrein and ambergris related research has focused on samples sourced from sperm whales (an endangered species), either collected as beach flotsam or from beached dead whales. This paper highlights that ambrein may be found in other mammals too.
Perspectives
This builds in our related works on ambrein and ambergris and suggests that its occurrence is more widespread than previously considered. Perhaps we should extract our manure before using it on the garden?
Dr Paul A Sutton
University of Plymouth
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Ambrein: a minor, but common constituent of mammalian faeces?, Natural Product Research, March 2020, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/14786419.2020.1731746.
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