TIL that whales were saved from massacre when kerosene appeared (1860s) because, until then, whale oil was widely used as illumination fuel.

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Whale oil was also used as a raw material in chemical industry for a lot of things where it was replaced by mineral oil too, e.g. in the production of tensides for washing powder, and not at least was also used for the production of margarine, as fat was rare in the early 20th century.
- It was used in automatic transmission fluid until the 1970s.
- And perfume as well, at least from what I remember from Anno
  
  But that's made from ambergrease which is produced in the digestive system of a whale and can be found once in a while on the beach too.

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