this post was submitted on 10 Apr 2024
832 points (99.2% liked)

Science Memes

9997 readers
2698 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.

Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.

Sister Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
832
don't tell iceland (mander.xyz)
submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
87 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 64 points 4 months ago (5 children)

So….

That’s enough internet for the day:

Apparently, somebody is selling whale cheese

[–] jubilationtcornpone 41 points 4 months ago (2 children)

So many questions. How does one go about milking a whale? How do you make cheese from milk with a thickness similar to No. 4 Fuel Oil? Who was the first person to attempt to milk a whale? Who is buying up all these whale dairy products? Is there such a thing as a whale milk cheesecake?

[–] [email protected] 23 points 4 months ago (2 children)

So I elected not to look into it, because I doubt that zoos are selling it. Which means it’s likely sourced from whalers

Japan, Iceland, Norway, are all actively fishing commercially (though Japan uses the cover of “scientific” expeditions to justify it.)

[–] [email protected] 25 points 4 months ago (1 children)

According to their process page the whales are guided into a harness and then milked. Whether or not we should believe it, I cannot say.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I wouldn't believe it. The profile photos of their 'team' look AI generated.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Nothing is found when searching for their names. There's not a thing out there about "Chief Scientist" Mark Linneaus, although he claims to have had an academic career. If he in fact "dedicated more than 20 years to investigating how diet and environment shape mammalian milk production", it is surprising that his name is nowhere to be found on Google Scholar.

Not to get started on the pictures of their alleged cheeses. There's red flags all over the website. At least they don't accept orders, so it looks more like a joke than a scam.

It's a shame though, I would love to try sustainably produced whale cheese.

[–] Mouselemming 1 points 4 months ago

The street address doesn't exist. April fools

[–] Mouselemming 1 points 4 months ago

Must be an April Fools prank.

215 Juniper St. Pismo Beach CA doesn't exist.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Well the reviews are from the Oculus marketing lead, a, Simian Field Reseacher (sic) and an independent shoe salesman. Two of them even have the same picture. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that this isn't real.

Plus they're touting it as the new sustainable future of dairy. That alone is an insane thing to claim. There are fewer than thirty thousand gray whales in the world. They produce eighty gallons of milk a day. That's about twelve cows worth if you ignore that most of it is going to be drunk by the whale's calf.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago

Yup.

I’m thinking it either flopped or was never a thing.

I doubt it’s something that could be reliably commercialized.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago

Plus cow dairy requires constant breeding in order to keep the cows milk supply up. Just like humans, they only produce milk after giving birth and for a limited time.

Breeding cows in captivity is pretty standard fare these days.

I'm not sure whale breeding is an industry that currently exists. Nor is whale sperm harvester. As if milking a female whale is complicated enough.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 4 months ago (1 children)

But why is this any more disgusting than cow milk cheese or goat milk cheese?

[–] [email protected] 28 points 4 months ago (3 children)

Well.

I hate to break it to you… but the whales probably aren’t milked more than once.

My guess is it’s sold by whalers.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

They talk about their process. It involves a whale harness, and divers to do the milking of wild whales.

I'm honestly still wondering if this is an elaborate joke 😆

Edit: from their FAQ:

Is this a joke? No, this isn't a joke, and we're here to stay.

Further down the page:

Treating whales ethically and with respect is our #1 priority. All whales participate on a strictly voluntary basis

I'm still not convinced it's real...

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

That'd be my bet. I'd bet they aren't even "milked". The probably just take it out of the body manually. I assume whales probably carry a lot of milk though, so if someone is killing whales I guess it's good it's being used for something... although that gives more profit to the whalers so maybe not.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago (1 children)

According to their process page the whales are guided into a harness and then milked. Whether or not we should believe it, I cannot say.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 months ago (1 children)

The pics of the team seem a bit AI to me, also when googling their names there are no clear links connecting those names to whale dairy besides that website. This (and how unrealistic the process sounds) leads me to believe that this is not real.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

they look like stock photos. the address at the bottom (Pismo beach CA) seems real enough. (at least the address comes back to deep sea.)

Dunno if the process is real. It seems... not likely to produce a whole lot of cheese, really. I'm a little curious as to the actual prices, though. If it's like... insane-per-pound.... maybe there is enough interest in it. But given how many whales get taken to commercial fishing; I imagine there's likely to be some on the market.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago

The address doesn't exist. Juniper street doesn't go up to 215

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

What do you think happens to dairy cows after their milk production declines? Or their male calves?

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 months ago

aaand they're sold out

[–] Mouselemming 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

That earthly address does not exist. Pismo Beach is just that, a beach. (You can successfully dig for clams there, or you could when I was a kid.) And there's no street by that name anywhere in the vicinity. Looks like an elaborate April Fools joke.