Thousands of animal species have disappeared due to human activity. Some were destroyed because their meat, fat, and skins were used to meet normal needs, others because of habitat reduction. If we began to forget what a blubber is, then humanity has provided a chance for survival for many marine animals, the fat of which has long been the main source of raw materials for the production of lubricants, soap and margarine.
Etymology
The meaning of the word "blubber" is simple: in the 16th-19th centuries, the so-called liquid fat, which was obtained from the subcutaneous fat of marine animals. The word comes from the ancient Swedish and Danish names for the whale - narhval / narval. The blubber is obtained from mammals: mainly from various species of whales, as well as seals, walruses, beluga whales and dolphins, and even polar bears and fish. The term is obsolete and hardly ever used. Now fats are divided depending on the source of origin - for example, whale,codfish and seals.
In ancient Russia (XV-XVI centuries), the word "blubber" was used for both whale skins and whale fat, and later - the skins of marine mammals, including seals.
Sources
All marine mammals (cetaceans, pinnipeds and sirens) have a thick layer of fat under their skin that covers the entire body except for the limbs. In some animals, its mass can reach up to half of the total. Fat-containing subcutaneous tissue serves to protect the mammal from hypothermia, in addition, it increases the streamlining of the body contour and increases buoyancy. Animal species that make long migrations (such as the humpback whale) live off the reserves of this fat while swimming to new habitats.
Blub, which is obtained from marine life, has a brown or yellowish color and a very unpleasant odor. It was mainly rendered from whales caught in the Arctic and Antarctic. They were hunted in spring and summer, when they are well-fed and have a lot of fat. A blue whale can produce about 19,080 liters of blubber, while a sperm whale can produce 7,950 liters.
Use
What is a blubber, many inhabitants learned from the exciting novels of writers of the XVIII-XIX centuries about whaling. Then whale oil was the main source that satisfies all the needs of the population in fatty acids.
Fat was used for lighting in lamps and fixtures, until the 1960s served as the basis for the production of lubricants for cars and underwaterboats, as well as a means for the treatment of leather and suede and in many other production processes. Also, a lot of whale oil was used in the production of soap, margarine and in the chemical industry.
