this post was submitted on 13 Feb 2026
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Today I Learned

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Also the antifungus cream I'm using has synthetic sperm whale oil in it

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[–] matsdis@piefed.social 39 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The same story told from an environmentalist perspective: https://edconway.substack.com/p/no-kerosene-did-not-save-the-sperm

So what really saved the whales? Well, the answer is first, the whaling bans. [...] In the face of this enforced shortage of whale oil, lubricant manufacturers and other users of whale oil had to try to find a satisfactory substitute.

Lo and behold, in the 1970s there was a sharp rise in research and development spending on esters. Chemists worked out how to create synthetic alternatives.

(The posted article has this too, and expands on the business side of it.)

[–] idyllic@leminal.space 5 points 1 day ago

Yup. Thanks for this context.

[–] RamRabbit@lemmy.world 42 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Yeah, whale oil was the base for a large host of high quality oils. It just happens to be real good.

[–] cadekat@pawb.social 17 points 1 day ago (1 children)

What makes a particular oil so good?

[–] RamRabbit@lemmy.world 39 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

The main use was for lighting as it burns cleanly and brightly. This was eventually replaced by kerosene which performs even better and doesn't leave a fishy odor.

It was also good for machine lubrication; and didn't really have any notable competitors until petroleum-derived lubricants were developed and manufactured en-mass.

[–] cv_octavio@piefed.ca 15 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Surprised I had to scroll this far to find this

*really good. Not opposed to fake good.

[–] tyrant@lemmy.world 21 points 1 day ago (2 children)

What do the whales need this oil for? Is there oil in other animals? Is there human oil?

[–] Johandea@feddit.nu 20 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

The function of spermaceti, i.e. the oil like substance in sperm whales, is unknown. But a lot of whale oil was extracted from heating whale blubber from different whale species.

You can absolutely render out an oil of sorts from human adipose tissue. This may happen after we die under certain circumstances and can be found as adipocere, aka corpse wax.

[–] aeration1217@lemmy.org 14 points 1 day ago (2 children)

and you said corpse wax is great on surfboards?

[–] idyllic@leminal.space 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

This made me actually chuckle.

[–] WhiteOakBayou@lemmy.world 15 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I'm glad we found an alternative before people started using some sort of CAFO style farming for whale oil. All I can picture is like maple syrup tree taps in the poor animals heads.

[–] acockworkorange@mander.xyz 2 points 8 hours ago

According to another comment here, we only truly found alternatives because whaling was getting banned.

[–] FatVegan@leminal.space 5 points 1 day ago

That's crazy. But also it's 2026 and we torture animals for food.

[–] crank0271@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Also the antifungus cream I'm using has synthetic sperm whale oil in it

Ah, the margarine of anti-fungal creams.

[–] prex@aussie.zone 7 points 1 day ago

I can't believe its not antifungal cream

[–] pedz@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)