Even today it counts as a significant event when a dead sperm whale drifts ashore in Iceland as happened last month in Breiðdalsvík, East Iceland. The carcass was burnt but the whale’s jawbone and teeth were salvaged.
Sperm whales are the largest toothed whales on the planet. Sperm whales have a mouth full of conical teeth located only in the lower jaw. Each tooth is around 10 to 20 centimetres (4 to 8 inches) long and can weigh as much as one kilo (2.2 pounds). Hunting sperm whale is illegal today but Icelanders are occasionally able to get their hands on whale teeth when dead animals drift ashore.
Páll Leifsson was assigned the time-consuming task to remove the whale’s teeth from its jawbone. It took Páll twenty hours to remove and clean all fifty teeth. Sperm whale teeth have long been used as materials for carving and scrimshawing. However, according to RÚV’s report the owner of the land where the carcass stranded has yet to decide what he’ll do with the teeth.
Importing sperm whale teeth is illegal in many countries, including the United States, without requisite permits.
A little fact: In olden times a whale stranding was considered such a stroke of good luck for poor Icelanders that it produced the idiom ‘Þetta var mikill hvalreki’, meaning ‘this was a great windfall‘.
Even today it counts as a significant event when a dead sperm whale drifts ashore in Iceland as happened last month in Breiðdalsvík, East Iceland. The carcass was burnt but the whale’s jawbone and teeth were salvaged.
Sperm whales are the largest toothed whales on the planet. Sperm whales have a mouth full of conical teeth located only in the lower jaw. Each tooth is around 10 to 20 centimetres (4 to 8 inches) long and can weigh as much as one kilo (2.2 pounds). Hunting sperm whale is illegal today but Icelanders are occasionally able to get their hands on whale teeth when dead animals drift ashore.
Páll Leifsson was assigned the time-consuming task to remove the whale’s teeth from its jawbone. It took Páll twenty hours to remove and clean all fifty teeth. Sperm whale teeth have long been used as materials for carving and scrimshawing. However, according to RÚV’s report the owner of the land where the carcass stranded has yet to decide what he’ll do with the teeth.
Importing sperm whale teeth is illegal in many countries, including the United States, without requisite permits.
A little fact: In olden times a whale stranding was considered such a stroke of good luck for poor Icelanders that it produced the idiom ‘Þetta var mikill hvalreki’, meaning ‘this was a great windfall‘.
