Around a group of sperm whales, there will
often be scraped-off skin floating in the
water. The whales continuously cast off their thin
external layer of skin, and the highly social animals
are happy to help each other rub off the old skin.
This cetacean beauty treatment exposes their new,
darker skin. The frequent casting-off of skin allows
the whales to get rid of parasites and probably also
reduces the risk of infection. Biologists often use
the scraped-off skin to sequence whale DNA.Sperm whales rub against
each other to cast off skinPhoto // Tony WuNATUREPL
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