Ken Wilman probably didn’t suspect the weird findings of his dog, Madge, would make him $67,400 (50,000 Euros) richer; however, when the pooch found an usual musky-smelling, waxy “stone” when walking the beach in Morecambe, he literally struck “floating gold.” While tests are still being done to confirm the object, Wilman believes it is ambergris, a substance found in the stomach of whales that is sought after for the way it acquires a beautiful scent as it ages.
“It’s worth so much because of its particular properties,” Andrew Kitchener, principal curator of vertebrates at the National Museum of Scotland, told the BBC. “It’s a very important base for perfumes and it’s hard to find any artificial substitute for it.”
To read the full story, head to news.com.au
Jessica Festa is the editor of the travel sites Jessie on a Journey (http://jessieonajourney.com) and Epicure & Culture (http://epicureandculture.com). Along with blogging at We Blog The World, her byline has appeared in publications like Huffington Post, Gadling, Fodor’s, Travel + Escape, Matador, Viator, The Culture-Ist and many others. After getting her BA/MA in Communication from the State University of New York at Albany, she realized she wasn’t really to stop backpacking and made travel her full time job. Some of her most memorable experiences include studying abroad in Sydney, teaching English in Thailand, doing orphanage work in Ghana, hiking her way through South America and traveling solo through Europe. She has a passion for backpacking, adventure, hiking, wine and getting off the beaten path.
