Whales are not just big, they're a big deal for healthy oceans. When they poop, whales move tons of nutrients from deep water to the surface. Now new research shows that whales also move tons of nutrients thousands of miles—in their urine.

The study focused on a handful of baleen species — namely, gray whales, humpback whales and right whales — which display “traditional migratory patterns,” moving from colder waters in the summer to warmer waters in the winter. For example, humpbacks in the North Pacific migrate annually from the Gulf of Alaska to the coast of Hawaii.

Now we can add whale urine to that list, according to a paper published in the journal Nature Communications. “Lots of people think of plants as the lungs of the planet, taking in carbon dioxide, and expelling oxygen,

New research shows that whales move nutrients thousands of miles—in their pee and poop—from as far as Alaska to Hawaii, supporting the health of tropical ecosystems and fish. UC Santa Cruz professors Dan Costa and Ari Friedlaender contributed their marine-mammal expertise to the study,

In a nutshell Migrating baleen whales transport thousands of tons of nutrients from cold, nutrient-rich feeding grounds to warm, nutrient-poor breeding areas through their urine, placentas, skin, and carcasses,

New research has shown that whales ferry substantial quantities of nutrients for thousands of miles in their urine and other bodily outputs.

Baleen whales undertake some of the longest migrations of any mammal, traveling thousands of miles between nutrient-rich feeding grounds and tropical breeding areas. Southern Hemisphere humpback whales make seasonal journeys of over 5,