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,

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.

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,

“Beyond urine, whale carcasses also serve as nutrient deposits. When a whale dies, its massive body sinks to the ocean floor, creating a ‘whale fall’ — an event that supports entire deep-sea communities. Scavengers like sharks, hagfish, and deep-sea invertebrates feast on the remains, recycling nutrients back into the ecosystem.”

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