00:05hey guys gold is known as one of the most valuable things in the world but as it turns out
00:10there are
00:11animals whose bodies can produce something that is also extremely valuable from liquids that can
00:17only be gathered drop by drop to golden colored threads to strange lumps from inside a whale's
00:22body that are hunted down by the perfume industry some of them are even so rare and hard to get
00:28that just a tiny amount can be worth an extraordinary fortune here are seven animals whose bodies produce
00:34incredibly valuable things
00:48in first place is a sperm whale a giant creature that turns out to produce one of the rarest and
00:53most
00:53valuable natural substances in the world which is ambergris this substance forms inside the sperm
00:59whale's digestive system and is linked to the hard parts of its prey such as squid beaks that are
01:04difficult to digest the whale's body then forms a special substance that coats these materials so
01:09they don't injure its digestive tract over time this mixture hardens into a solid mass known as ambergris
01:16its color can range from dark to pale gray with a wide variety of sizes
01:26what makes it even stranger is that fresh ambergris actually has a very strong unpleasant odor yet after
01:32being expelled from the whale's body and floating in the ocean for years exposure to seawater air and
01:38sunlight slowly transforms its scent profile making it softer more complex and truly distinctive and this
01:45is precisely what has made ambergris so highly prized in the perfume world for so long
01:52one of its main compounds ambrang can produce aromatic molecules after undergoing oxidation
02:00which helps give perfumes their character and lasting power
02:04the thing is finding ambergris is no easy feat it can be carried by ocean currents across vast distances
02:11before washing ashore so someone could even come across it without ever seeing a sperm whale nearby
02:17and because of this rarity high quality ambergris is extremely valuable and expensive on the market
02:28but don't rush to the beach just yet the trade and possession of ambergris have different regulations
02:34in every country as sperm whales are a protected species so this strange lump that comes from
02:41inside a whale's body isn't just an ocean treasure but also one of the most controversial natural
02:47ingredients in the history of the perfume industry
03:05next is the golden orb weaver a spider whose body can produce silk threads with a natural golden color
03:12that color doesn't come from light reflection or dye because the thread that comes out of the spider's
03:17body truly has a distinctive golden yellow hue
03:24just like other spiders the thread is produced by silk glands inside its body then extruded through
03:29spinnerets located at the back of its body this thread is used to build large webs that serve to catch
03:36insects besides looking like gold thread its silk is also known to be extremely strong yet flexible
03:47it's this uniqueness that made humans try to turn those spider webs into fabric but the process is far
03:54more difficult than producing silk from silkworms the spiders have to be gathered one by one and then the
04:01thread is pulled out carefully without killing the creature once the process is finished the spiders
04:07can be released back into the wild one of the most famous examples comes from madagascar to produce a
04:17single piece of textile from golden spider silk it required threads collected from over 1 million golden
04:22or weavers the process of collecting and weaving it even took years to complete
04:29the end result was a naturally golden fabric that is extremely rare and nearly impossible to mass produce
04:36so even though this spider doesn't actually produce gold its tiny body is capable of spinning golden
04:42thread gold that's far more elusive than ordinary silk
05:01so even though this is a very important part of the world's world's world's world's most precious
05:05natural scent ingredients musk
05:09uniquely this material doesn't come from its fur or its antlers but from a specialized gland found
05:15only in male musk deer
05:22that land is located on the belly near its reproductive organs and it produces a secretion with a very
05:27strong scent when fresh its scent is actually far from the pleasant fragrance of perfume but once
05:33dried and processed this musk produces a distinctive aroma that has been highly prized for hundreds of years
05:39as a perfume ingredient
05:46in the traditional perfume industry musk is famous not only for its scent this ingredient is also used as
05:53a fixative a component that helps the fragrance last longer while providing a warm and deep aromatic
05:59character and because it was only produced by certain animals in limited quantities natural musk was once an
06:07extremely expensive commodity
06:10unfortunately that high value also brought a major problem
06:15traditionally to obtain the musk pod the musk deer often had to be killed
06:21poaching then became a threat to several musk deer species
06:24while the trade of natural musk is now strictly restricted in many places
06:30that is why the modern perfume industry relies more on synthetic musk which can produce a similar scent
06:37character without having to harvest it from animals
06:39the musk deer species
06:52moving on to the next list there are oysters or pearl oysters creatures capable of producing shiny
06:57highly valuable gems right inside their bodies that object of course is the pearl
07:02one of nature's gems that has been cherished by humans for thousands of years
07:09the process of pearl formation begins when something enters and irritates the soft tissue inside the
07:15oyster's body as a form of protection the oyster then coats the irritant with nacre the same material
07:21that forms the lustrous lining on the inside of its shell
07:27the nacre layer doesn't form all at once the oyster deposits it little by little in many layers
07:34until after quite some time a pearl is formed
07:42the pearl's distinctive luster comes from the extremely thin structure of the nacre layers
07:47which makes light interact and creates a shimmering effect however not all oysters can produce pearls
07:53with perfect shape size color and luster natural pearls are even much rarer because they are formed without
08:01human intervention this is why humans eventually developed pearl cultivation by inserting certain
08:09materials into oysters to trigger their formation process
08:15even though they can be cultivated the process still takes time and the results don't always meet
08:21expectations the better the shape size surface color and luster the higher the value of the pearl
08:27so unlike gold that must be mined deep from within the earth this precious gem is actually created
08:34layer by layer by an animal living quietly inside its shell
08:37layer by layer by layer by layer by layer by layer by layer by layer by layer by layer by
08:51layer
08:51next up is the swiftlet a tiny creature capable of producing one of the most famous premium food
08:57ingredients in asia it's not their meat or eggs that are valuable but rather the nest they build using their
09:03own saliva
09:05several species of swiflets from the genus aerodramus have salivary glands that enlarge when they enter the breeding season
09:13these birds secrete protein-rich saliva in thin strands then gradually attach them to the surface
09:19of cave walls or the buildings where they nest once exposed to the air the saliva hardens and forms a
09:27structure
09:27resembling a small bowl this process is repeated over and over until a nest is formed strong enough to hold
09:35their eggs and raise their young it is this nest that is then harvested and known as edible bird's nest
09:41or swiftlet nest
09:46after going through a cleaning and processing routine these nests are commonly used to make bird's nest soup
09:52and various premium food products especially in china and several other asian countries
09:59its value can be very high because the production process cannot be done using machines it is the
10:05swiftlets that have to build the nests themselves while humans can only provide the space maintain the
10:11environmental conditions and then harvest and clean them with great care
10:31and last on the list is cochineal a tiny insect whose body is the source of one of the world's
10:37most famous
10:37natural red dyes these insects live attached to cactus plants especially cacti of the genus opuntia
10:45and at first glance they even look like tiny white clumps on the plant's surface
10:54the precious treasure found inside the cochineal's body is carminic acid this red compound is produced in
11:00fairly large quantities by the cochineal and serves as a natural defense to help protect it from predators
11:10to extract the color the cochineals are harvested from cacti then dried and processed the extracted
11:17carminic acid can then be processed into carmine a deep red dye capable of producing colors ranging from
11:23bright red to deep red depending on the processing methods and conditions
11:30what makes it fascinating is that this insect dye has been used by humans for centuries
11:45to produce dyes in large quantities naturally a huge amount of cochineal is needed that means the
11:53simple looking red color in a product might actually come from a swarm of tiny insects
11:58harvested from the surface of a cactus thank you
12:12so there you have it seven animals whose bodies produce incredibly valuable things
12:17i hope you found this information helpful and i'll see you in our next exciting video
12:28so
