Who doesn’t love whales? They are majestic, intelligent, and mysterious. The blue whale is the largest animal to ever exist, and the bowhead whale can live for more than 200 years! How, exactly, do scientists know how long a whale lives? Turns out it is their cerumen—wait, what?
Cetologists are scientists who study whales. They can cut into a plug of earwax from a whale, which can be more than 10 inches long, and much like looking at the rings of a tree, determine the age of the whale from which it came. Earwax from blue whales, for example, forms rings approximately every six months. These rings, or laminae, inform cetologists how old a particular whale is. But it turns out, these plugs can tell scientists even more than just their age. From an earwax plug, chemicals and pollutants from the water can be analyzed. The stress hormone, cortisol, can also be measured, and research has confirmed that cortisol in the earplugs of whales increases as whaling increases (or decreases). Even though whaling was banned over 50 years ago, cortisol levels are still high in whales. Cetologists believe this is due to ship noise, climate change, and other factors.
Who knew earwax was so interesting? Audiologists did!
Related Posts
Recent Posts
Where Y’at?
Where y’at? This common greeting in New Orleans isn’t asking for your location, it means how are you or what’s going on? As we look…
The Fabulous Audiology Chorus: You Know You Want To
The Fabulous Audiology Chorus is looking for voices to join in singing our national anthem at AAA 2025+HearTECH Expo. You’ve probably seen us at the…
AAA 2025 in New Orleans: GHOST TOUR
New Orleans is said to be one of the most haunted cities in the United States. According to Google, the city’s tumultuous history filled with…