Whales spend their whole lives supporting the environment that surrounds them. Their diet is fish and krill, and for years humans assumed that fewer whales = more fish and krill for us. This equation justified the whaling industry’s slaughter of almost three million whales in the twentieth century alone. As it turns out, fewer whales does not mean more fish. Whales dive down to the shadowy depths of the ocean to feed. They must return to the surface to breathe, and while there, they release robust fecal plumes. (Note: Poop, they’re pooping.) The whale poop is full of iron and nitrogen, which
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