Some whales are adventurous eaters . Killer hulk , for example , now and again add on their normal diets of fish with more unusual menu ( more on that below ) . But other kinds of whales , specially the baleen variety , terminate up with an exotic array of objective in their intestine , too , because they feed by indiscriminately absorb up Brobdingnagian amount of water and filtering out the shrimp , plankton , and low fish . Below are seven strange things regain in the stomachs and gumption of whales — some inanimate , some living , some amusing , and some just sad .
1. A Golf ball
Imagecourtesy of Lotus Head , used under Creative Commons license .
A 1994 episode ofSeinfeldtouched on golf glob - consuming ocean mammals . But in 2008 , when a golf game ball was discoveredin the bowelsof a beached gray-haired whale in Washington , there was nothing George Constanza or an real nautical biologist could do . On TV , the problematical golf game ball was lodged in the whale ’s blowhole—“hole in one , ” as Kramer says . But in real life story , the golf bollock was find oneself amongst the giant ’s innards . The whale was dead on comer ; scientists do n’t believe the digested golf ball was connect to the mammalian ’s pass .
2. Sweatpants
Imagecourtesy of Punkt 8,used under Creative Commons permission .
When they ’re not up for real attire , multitude often opt for sweat pants . And when the same masses are too work-shy to properly throw out the trash , food waste — like undesirable sweat pants — ends up in the sea gettingswallowedby whales . The same hulk that swallowed a golf game testis not far from Seattle was also found with sweatpants in its belly .
3. Polar Bears
Imagecourtesy of Alan Wilson , used under Creative Commons permit .
Typically , killer whales subsist on diets of fish;some even dineon baleen whales , penguins , and smaller maritime mammal like seals , ocean Leo , and otter . Sometimes , though , the whales are found with digested pieces ofpolar bear , moose , reptilian , and many other animals in their guts .
4. Endangered species
Photocourtesy of PMX , used under Creative Commons license .
Critically endangered European eels spend most of their lives in freshwater . But when they fully age and become sexually call down , they return to the warm sea waters of the Sargasso Sea in the middle of the Atlantic to spawn and then die . unluckily , not all of themmake itto that last second of coital bliss . Some are gobbled up by several different species of toothed hulk in the easterly Atlantic .
5. Greenhouse sheeting
Imagecourtesy of Quistnix , used under Creative Commons license .
Giant greenhouses in Almeria , Grenada , and even Iceland are responsible for produce the tomato plant that stock up the green groceries aisle of the world ’s major supermarkets . They ’re also responsible for the gobs and tons of plastic sheeting more and more found mangle inside thestomachsof beached whales . When the pliant sheets used to pin the heat of the sun and aid nourish vegetables are n’t switch aside in good order , they of necessity end up in the waters surrounding Europe , and finally inside gray whale .
6. Cigarette butts
Imagecourtesy of Silly Putty Enemies , used under Creative Commons license .
loading of cellulose acetate filters , orcigarette butt , have been find in the stomach of beached whales .
7. More trash
Imagecourtesy of Bengt Nyman , used under Creative Commons license .
A gray hulk recently found deceased on the beach of a small island off the coast of the Netherlands had dozens of charge plate bags , nine time of R-2 , two long piece of garden hose , a couple of flower pots , and a plastic spray canister in itsstomach . It ’s an increasingly common occurrence : whales thrust full of human garbage .
