Bones as biofuel: a review of whale bone composition with implications for deep-sea biology and palaeoanthropology

Whales are unique among vertebrates because of the enormous oil reserves held in their soft tissue and bone. These ‘biofuel’ stores have been used by humans from prehistoric times to more recent industrial-scale whaling. Deep-sea biologists have now discovered that the oily bones of dead whales on t...

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Published in:Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Main Authors: Higgs, Nicholas D., Little, Crispin T. S., Glover, Adrian G.
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: The Royal Society 2011
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2992730
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20702457
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2010.1267
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spelling ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:2992730 2023-05-15T15:36:15+02:00 Bones as biofuel: a review of whale bone composition with implications for deep-sea biology and palaeoanthropology Higgs, Nicholas D. Little, Crispin T. S. Glover, Adrian G. 2011-01-07 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2992730 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20702457 https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2010.1267 en eng The Royal Society http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2992730 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20702457 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2010.1267 This Journal is © 2010 The Royal Society Review Articles Text 2011 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2010.1267 2013-09-03T08:09:28Z Whales are unique among vertebrates because of the enormous oil reserves held in their soft tissue and bone. These ‘biofuel’ stores have been used by humans from prehistoric times to more recent industrial-scale whaling. Deep-sea biologists have now discovered that the oily bones of dead whales on the seabed are also used by specialist and generalist scavenging communities, including many unique organisms recently described as new to science. In the context of both cetacean and deep-sea invertebrate biology, we review scientific knowledge on the oil content of bone from several of the great whale species: Balaenoptera musculus, Balaenoptera physalus, Balaenoptera borealis, Megaptera novaeangliae, Eschrichtius robustus, Physeter macrocephalus and the striped dolphin, Stenella coeruleoalba. We show that data collected by scientists over 50 years ago during the heyday of industrial whaling explain several interesting phenomena with regard to the decay of whale remains. Variations in the lipid content of bones from different parts of a whale correspond closely with recently observed differences in the taphonomy of deep-sea whale carcasses and observed biases in the frequency of whale bones at archaeological sites. Text Balaenoptera borealis Balaenoptera musculus Balaenoptera physalus Megaptera novaeangliae Physeter macrocephalus PubMed Central (PMC) Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 278 1702 9 17
institution Open Polar
collection PubMed Central (PMC)
op_collection_id ftpubmed
language English
topic Review Articles
spellingShingle Review Articles
Higgs, Nicholas D.
Little, Crispin T. S.
Glover, Adrian G.
Bones as biofuel: a review of whale bone composition with implications for deep-sea biology and palaeoanthropology
topic_facet Review Articles
description Whales are unique among vertebrates because of the enormous oil reserves held in their soft tissue and bone. These ‘biofuel’ stores have been used by humans from prehistoric times to more recent industrial-scale whaling. Deep-sea biologists have now discovered that the oily bones of dead whales on the seabed are also used by specialist and generalist scavenging communities, including many unique organisms recently described as new to science. In the context of both cetacean and deep-sea invertebrate biology, we review scientific knowledge on the oil content of bone from several of the great whale species: Balaenoptera musculus, Balaenoptera physalus, Balaenoptera borealis, Megaptera novaeangliae, Eschrichtius robustus, Physeter macrocephalus and the striped dolphin, Stenella coeruleoalba. We show that data collected by scientists over 50 years ago during the heyday of industrial whaling explain several interesting phenomena with regard to the decay of whale remains. Variations in the lipid content of bones from different parts of a whale correspond closely with recently observed differences in the taphonomy of deep-sea whale carcasses and observed biases in the frequency of whale bones at archaeological sites.
format Text
author Higgs, Nicholas D.
Little, Crispin T. S.
Glover, Adrian G.
author_facet Higgs, Nicholas D.
Little, Crispin T. S.
Glover, Adrian G.
author_sort Higgs, Nicholas D.
title Bones as biofuel: a review of whale bone composition with implications for deep-sea biology and palaeoanthropology
title_short Bones as biofuel: a review of whale bone composition with implications for deep-sea biology and palaeoanthropology
title_full Bones as biofuel: a review of whale bone composition with implications for deep-sea biology and palaeoanthropology
title_fullStr Bones as biofuel: a review of whale bone composition with implications for deep-sea biology and palaeoanthropology
title_full_unstemmed Bones as biofuel: a review of whale bone composition with implications for deep-sea biology and palaeoanthropology
title_sort bones as biofuel: a review of whale bone composition with implications for deep-sea biology and palaeoanthropology
publisher The Royal Society
publishDate 2011
url http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2992730
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20702457
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2010.1267
genre Balaenoptera borealis
Balaenoptera musculus
Balaenoptera physalus
Megaptera novaeangliae
Physeter macrocephalus
genre_facet Balaenoptera borealis
Balaenoptera musculus
Balaenoptera physalus
Megaptera novaeangliae
Physeter macrocephalus
op_relation http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2992730
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20702457
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2010.1267
op_rights This Journal is © 2010 The Royal Society
op_doi https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2010.1267
container_title Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
container_volume 278
container_issue 1702
container_start_page 9
op_container_end_page 17
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