Why Whales Become More Dangerous When Dead

on November 26th 2013 an adult sperm whale washed up on shore in the Faroe Islands located north of the United Kingdom the whale had been dead for a few days when as marine biologist B Arnie Mickelson made a long incision along its belly when its guts cored out like leftover chili what could be causing this stomachache of cataclysmic proportions yeah we could charity video of the whale exploding I mean come on it would have been demonetized like immediately by raid channel legends [Music] we'll be talking about how whales and other animals might explode today we'll try to keep the gore to a minimum but no we will bring it up also please don't approach any beached whales or alive or otherwise if you want to help with any relief efforts consult local authorities on ways that you can help safely and with that out of the way let's get into it there are actually more animals that explode than you'd think yes there is a species of ant aptly named collab op sis explode ins otherwise known as yellow goo ants after the coloration of the substance that explodes from its body upon death unlike our whale corpse however this ant explodes on command soldier collab ops this explosions will pull enemies in close when they sense they're losing the battle and flex their muscles so violently that their skin ruptures liberating a toxic liquid that will either incapacitate or kill their enemy now that's dedication to a cause there was also an incident in Hamburg back in 2005 in which over 1,000 toad corpses with their abdomens burst were found in and around a pond in a local suburb authorities found that the water quality was no better or worse than any other pond so in an interview with NBC Frank mooch man of Berlin veterinarian involved in the cleanup estimates that crows are to blame he says that they learn quickly from watching other crows how to get the livers and it appears that a bird pecks into the toad with its beak between the amphibians chest and abdominal cavity and the toad puffs itself up as a natural defense mechanism but because the liver is missing and there's a hole in the toads body the blood vessels and lungs burst and the other organs ooze out we have content warnings for a reason folks in the mid 20th century the British Special Operations Executive cracked up a plan to use dead rats to sabotage German coal supply lines unlike the other animals we've been talking about these rats don't blow up on their own no SOE spline was to place dead rats full of plastic explosives in and around German coal burners so when workers disposed of them in their furnaces the explosives would go off but it wasn't completely if you tile as this discovery forced the German army to manually check every dead rat they disposed of I don't want to think about what would happen if they used rat Kings for that wracking does he ever crown mine does what dump these toads and the rats are dead but they don't explode like whales sometimes do the rats did explode but that was because we essentially turned them into little rodent firecrackers oh no it's the demon at eyes all right Deb Beelzebub your asses ass don't do it grow if we attack them wicked we could get flagged for hostile behavior but that's my favorite kind of behavior if only there was a way to create content without having to adhere to a system of constantly changing guidelines that ultimately determines whether or not that content is viable oh boy it's it's this week's sponsor raid shadow legends watch folks have you played raid shadow legends and I have let's get into it what really stands out to me with raid are the champions look at all these handsome boys and girls and lizards I've spent a good chunk of time meticulously crafting their gear and attuning their sets so dungeons are breathe huh well no one else is interesting about this game you can sacrifice the characters you're disappointed with - the one true Lizard King all glory to the Lizard King shut your ignorant back raid is now supported on PC so you can keep the fight going across multiple devices start your during today and receive 100,000 silver and a free hex Weaver you'll find these extra wards here in your inbox for the next 30 days only click on the link in this video's description to begin your journey raid shadow legends it's a video game I like the whale in the Faroe Islands had been lying on the beach for around a week before it popped so maybe decomposition has something to do with it there are 5 basic stages that animal matter goes through after death initial decay putrefaction black putrefaction bootrec fermentation and finally dry decay initial decay isn't so bad and it takes place from 1 to 3 days after death from the outside a deceased body won't look much different than a live body but the bacteria that occupy the intestines are already hard at work and assuming the vital organs they once lived inside putrefaction is where it starts to get achy and occurs about 4 to 10 days after death it's marked by the production of fluids and gases like hydrogen sulfide methane cadaverine and putrescine which all smell a million kinds of horrible bodies in putrefaction begin to fill with gas next comes black putrefaction around 10 to 20 days postmortem now all those liquids that have been building up inside the body leaked out into its surroundings and it begins to deflate as it dries the fourth step is fermentation about 20 to 50 days in which sees the corpse drying more and the bacteria that have been gestating on the body flourish and break down the flesh more and more leaving an unnerving cheese-like scent blast comes dry decay which lasts from 50 days onward the flesh at this point is almost gone or dried completely and soon the only thing will be left are the bones now that we know the process of decomp position we can begin to dissect why a dead whale might explode as you remember yarny Mickelson makes a long incision along the whales belly and boom now can you guess which step in decomposition is at play with our whales Bruce mate director of the marine biology Institute at Oregon State University in an article for The Verge argues that the explosion is most likely the result of a buildup of gases during future faction inside the creature the idea is that a whales blubber acts as a secondary balloon that holds in all those delicious post-mortem gases which otherwise would leak out through different orifices like resulting in a disgusting bloated whale corpse at least we didn't find any plastic bags inside it to mate says that dead animals buoy up to the surface all the time and they float there until the pressure is released through some weak point and that the pressure releases sometimes slow and sometimes catastrophic obviously this was one of those catastrophic times the size of the animal will impact the violence of the reaction to may continue saying that you don't get this type of exciting or dramatic response when you're looking at a squirrel roadkill or a raccoon along the road but the same process is going on in the squirrel it's just at a much smaller scale the whale is basically a giant balloon and it's massive weight forces it's leaky orifices closed so pressure can build up inside it until oh goodness but why would anyone actually cut into a whale corpse like the one in the video well likely it's because they know that this process of putrefaction is happening and they mean to release those gasses before they can build up to explosive levels they could also be cutting up the whale in order to dispose of the body you know make it easier to carry for example there was an incident in Oregon 1970 that saw a 45-ton will wash up on shore and the only option the locals could brainstorm to remove it from the beach was a cool 20 cases of dynamite they even made a song about it now the funny thing about exploding a 45-ton whale with 20 cases of dynamite is that you have significantly less control over the situation as you'd like local resident Walter no furs 1969 Oldsmobile took the brunt of the mistake after it was decimated by a three foot by five foot chunk of rotting whale blubber human Hofer remarks on the incident saying that it was a neat car I just got it from Dunham's and it was a Regency and I say the funny thing was their slogan was a whale of a deal how would you propose we get rid of a beached whale grill made me a tweeter web page a while back so send me your ideas so maybe those rats don't explode the same way that whales do or yellow goo ants but let's be honest there aren't many other ways for an animal to explode that doesn't include humans you know exploding them yeah I I didn't even bring up Soviet anti-tank dogs or British cat bombs we did that that was a thing and I hate there are plenty of reasons to avoid dead whales or dead anything for that matter from the smell to the bugs and harmful bacteria pretty much everything involved is telling us to stay as far away as possible but if that's not enough how about we let explosions of dynamite and liquid decompensation be enough for us to leave corpses well enough alone but one thing is for sure it sure takes guts to cut into an exploding whale damn it every time with you oh boy it's this week's sponsor oh man I wonder what it is it almost seems like we got an array of sponsors lately on a raid shadow legit okay okay I guess I'll just in the normal [Music]

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Views: 831,661

Rating: 4.8864198 out of 5

Keywords: whales, dead whales, amazing science, science, safety hacks, life hacks, beached whale, exploding whale, dead whale, ocean, sea, mysteries solved, solved mysteries, science documentary, why dead whales are dangerous, why beached whales are dangerous, why whales are dangerous, science explained

Id: uQPSKuJQQWc

Length: 10min 48sec (648 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 14 2020