The southern ocean sperm whale can remove large amounts of carbon from the atmosphere, according to a new research. The sperm whale counterbalances emissions of carbon by defecating, instead of increasing carbon levels through respiration.

Flinders University researcher Trish Lavery shared that poo stimulates phytoplankton to grow and is rich in iron.

She said, “They've certainly gone past the carbon-neutral status that we all attain to and they're actually sinking more carbon from the atmosphere each year into the deep ocean ... than what they add to the atmosphere when they respire”.

These sperm whales defecate on the phytoplankton which is almost like giving manure to a garden. These water plants tend to grow and bloom.

As a matter of fact, carbon build-up is an unexplored face of whaling. An extra two million tons of carbon would have been pulled out of the atmosphere, sperm whale populations had not been decreased from their historical levels.

Sperm whale is a carbon-neutral mammal and these whales can remove about 240,000 tones more carbon than they produce from the atmosphere each year, according to a research.

These whales sent about 160,000 tons of carbon into the atmosphere by breathing and tend to removed 400,000 tones by bowel movements.