Whale Pee Might Save the Planet

By Urine the News Staff | Published April 28, 2025

Turns out the ocean’s most majestic mammals have a superpower you didn’t expect: urine with a purpose. According to a new article published on The Conversation, whale pee is more than just a bodily function—it's a nutrient delivery system that helps support life across vast ocean ecosystems.

Scientists at the University of Exeter have found that large baleen whales such as humpbacks and gray whales act like a "great whale conveyor belt," transporting thousands of tons of nitrogen to nutrient-poor tropical waters each year through their urine. This process fuels phytoplankton growth, the foundation of the marine food web, and helps pull over 18,000 tons of carbon from the atmosphere through increased photosynthesis.

This phenomenon is part of the broader “whale pump” — the idea that whales carry nutrients from deep feeding areas to the surface and across ocean basins via migration. Along the way, their urine (as well as other forms of, let’s say, whale waste) fertilizes the ocean, contributing to everything from fish populations to climate regulation.

Some whale species can release up to 950 liters of urine per day, and with thousands of them aggregating in small tropical areas during migration, the result is an ecological impact scientists are only beginning to fully appreciate.

The study also highlights how centuries of commercial whaling drastically reduced this ecological service. Current nutrient movement via whales is estimated to be just one-third of what it once was—yet it's still making a measurable difference in carbon cycling and ecosystem productivity.

From stirring up the seafloor to providing nutrients via their massive carcasses when they die, whales continue to prove they’re essential players in Earth’s natural systems. So next time you hear about whale pee, don’t scoff—it’s the golden stream that helps keep ocean life afloat.

Read the full article on The Conversation.