Always on
This project successfully funded on 31st May 2026, you can still support them with a donation.
This project successfully funded on 31st May 2026, you can still support them with a donation.
I'll be spending a month solo skiing across Melville Bay. We'll be testing my poo to see how I adapt to eating only a seal for the duration.
In mid-April 2026 I'll be heading out to Kullorsuaq in north Greenland where I'll acclimatise for a few days, buy a dog and a couple of seals (an alive dog, unfortunately the seals will be dead). I will then head out north across the sea ice of Melville Bay (Qimusseriarsuaq) on skis and pulling a pulk (sled). I'll be aiming for the next settlement, Savissivik, 320km northwards on the other side of the bay. It's gonna take about a month and I'll be eating only a seal for the duration. Working closely with Nuuk University, UCL, the microbiome analysis/data analysis is being provided by NS Bio, Kingston University from the animal microbiome angle and a fab nutritionist (Nic Vaughan) we'll be testing bloods & stools before, during and afterwards. To see how a nose-to-tail approach to a single animal affects our physiology, also to see how the animal decays and how it's nutrient profile changes over time and what that does to my body. The last science bit is seeing how my gut microbiome compares to the dogs - we'll be in close contact for a month and will be eating the same food so that's gonna be really interesting. The final bit will be me musing on the seal as a food, and how important and integral it has been to the success of the Inuit over thousands of years.
All the results will be discussed in-depth with the scientists and clever people and the results will be made available for anyone (for free) who wants to have a look!
The money will go to pay for flights, insurance and a thousand little bit that all cost so much money. I have some awesome equipment suppliers on board, without whom the expedition would be costing 3 times the amount!
Here goes the more descriptive bit for you science buffs;
Nutritional Completeness, Temporal Degradation and Ethnographic Significance of Whole-Carcass Seal Consumption: A Field Investigation in Greenland
Scientific Expedition Synopsis
This expedition investigates four interconnected research dimensions concerning the nutritional and anthropological role of Phoca vitulina and related Arctic pinnipeds in human subsistence. The study employs a nose-to-tail consumption methodology to assess the degree to which whole-carcass utilisation of a single seal specimen can satisfy the complete macro- and micronutrient requirements of an adult human. It also examines the biochemical transformation of seal tissue across a defined post-mortem timeline, thereby evaluating the physiological consequences of consuming seal meat at varying stages of decomposition. These findings will assist in building a picture of the importance of the seal to Inuit culture within an anthropological and historical framework. The fourth and final aspect of this study will measure the impact on both human and dog eating the same food in an isolated and extended period of time, documenting how both co-domesticated species respond at a microbial level.
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made