I picked up my latest issue of the Smithsonian magazine and just learned about the narwhal.  Narwhal are considered to be the unicorn of the sea because of their spiral tusk (which is really their teeth).

Image source:  National Geographic

I was surprise that after all these years I’ve never heard about narwhals.  M said he found out about narwhals when he saw the cartoon drawing on a skateboard deck.  He couldn’t believe narwhals were real and thought it was a joke made between a small whale and a unicorn.  But he soon confirmed that narwhals are real and that they live in the Arctic.

In the past, European fisherman would catch and kill narwhals just to collect and sell the tusk.  And many people (in those days) believed the tusk were magical.  It was used to make a “powder” wonder drug.  Members of the royal family would carve the tusk into their thrones and other royal objects.  Some of them can still be seen in Norwegian museums today.

All that killing and hunting for the tusks put narwhals in risk of becoming extinct.  This also reminds me of what is happening with the elephants.  But presently, both the hunting of tusks for elephants and narwhals are illegal (at least illegal to be imported to the U.S.).  So that is a good sign going in the right direction.

The local tribes that live in Greenland depended on narwhal meat for survival, especially since the Arctic is so bare and cold.  But now scientist are urging the locals to help them capture, track, and release the narwhals in exchange for a good sum of money.  So far the team of scientist and locals are getting along well with this exchange.

I hope that scientists are able to make more progress with the study of narwhals.  They are an interesting looking creature that deserves to be protected and swim freely, just like all the other creatures of the ocean.

“Narwhals are related to bottle nose dolphins, belugas, harbor porpoises, and orcas.   A newborn narwhal calf is about 5 feet (1.5 meters) long and can weigh 175 to 220 pounds (79 to 100 kilograms). Narwhals are normally found in pods of two to ten.” - National Geographic

Image source:

National Geographic