# What is the greatest lubricant naturally produced by an animal?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-lubricant-naturally-produced-by-an-animal/223251>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 7, 2004, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-lubricant-naturally-produced-by-an-animal/223251 "2004-01-07T18:52:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![NutMagnet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea5d25/32.png) [@NutMagnet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NutMagnet)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2004, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-lubricant-naturally-produced-by-an-animal/223251/21 "2004-01-08T16:45:09Z")

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**netscape6**

> [@](#):
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> You owe me a new key board. The one I have is all stick and covered in pop.

I see the letter “y” is starting to stick.

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**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2004, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-lubricant-naturally-produced-by-an-animal/223251/22 "2004-01-08T16:48:23Z")

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> [@](#):
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> \*Originally posted by Quint Essence \*  
> \*\*synovial fluid \*\*

Ditto again.

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**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2004, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-lubricant-naturally-produced-by-an-animal/223251/23 "2004-01-08T22:42:11Z")

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Babies are born with a nice coating of a really nifty lube. Protects their skin while in the womb and then helps smooth things along during birth. If the cosmetics people could synthesize that, it’d be a big seller.

Possibly other mammals have the same thing, but given how hairless humans are, it might be relatively unique.

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**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2004, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-lubricant-naturally-produced-by-an-animal/223251/24 "2004-01-09T08:26:49Z")

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> [@](#):
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> \*Originally posted by herman\_and\_bill \*  
> \*\*I think sperm whale oil was tops too, it was even used in automatic transmission fluid until it was outlawed in the 70’s. \*\*

Spermaceti isn’t “produced” by the whale. It exists in the whale’s cranial cavity, but you have to a) kill the whale to get to it, and b) refine it. Thus, it doesn’t count for the purposes of the OP.

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