Narwhal: Meet The Unicorn Of The Seas

Narwhal is a difficult cetacean to find, considered an endangered species. Hence, it is seen as a unicorn. In addition, its horn is also used to hunt.

It looks like a mythological being, but it’s a real being that lives in our oceans. They call it the unicorn of the sea and it is difficult to study it. Not all narwhals have their characteristic horn. The narwhal is a little-known but passionate animal.

Narwhal characteristics

Narwhal is an odontoceti cetacean closely related to belugas, meaning that it is a marine mammal that has teeth. It is part of the whale family and is characterized by a huge horn that has the front of its head.  In fact, the “horn” is prey.

Males and females have slightly different bodies. Adult males weigh an average of 1,600 kilos and females reach 1,000 kilos. Females are a little smaller than males,  measuring about four meters. Males, in turn, usually reach 4.5 m.

Furthermore, the narwhal changes color throughout its life. When they are born, they are gray with  dark spots, in a unique pattern for each one. These spots stop appearing when they reach two years of age, but continue to grow over time. The older ones appear to be black in color, as their spots have grown so much that they have completely covered them.

This species differs from other whales in that it does not have a dorsal fin, a feature it shares with belugas. Instead, they have a crest that measures up to one meter in length.

Its most striking feature is  the huge tusk in front of its head. This prey  can reach two meters and weigh more than 10 kilos.  This feature is unique in males, as females never develop it.

Until recently it was not known what the narwhal used its prey for. It was believed to be linked to guidance, and some scientists ventured to say that it helped him break through thin ice. Recent research shows that  the narwhal uses its prey to hunt: it stuns the fish by moving it too fast so it can eat it.

Narwhal Behavior

The narwhal lives in small groups. During winter, groups are composed of two to nine individuals, but  in summer they migrate south and form huge groups of hundreds or thousands of narwhals.

It should be noted that narwhals are particularly noisy cetaceans. Many of the other species of whales only make small sounds, but narwhals are not only constantly communicating through noise, they also have a wide variety of sounds.

Thus, they produce  clicks  routinely and at different intervals. It is believed that clicks are used as a mode of echolocation, just as dolphins do. However,  whistles and other sounds that are just a communication between narwhals were detected . They can modulate these sounds, which makes experts think that narwhals have a complex language.

On the other hand, in relation to its diet, the narwhal  gets its food from the bottom of the sea. It makes dives that last up to 30 minutes and is known to reach up to 800 meters deep. Thus,  alongside the sperm whale, it is one of the mammals that reach the greatest depths when submerged.

Narwhal Habitat

The narwhal is in a very specific area of ​​the planet. In winter, it lives in the icy waters surrounding the North Pole: north of Canada, around Greenland and north of the Atlantic Ocean of Russia. In summer, it makes a small migration to the south and is seen in some fjords or in a Canadian inlet.

We know that, before, narwhals lived in warmer waters, but with evolution, they moved to the coldest waters on the planet. They have a very limited habitat and therefore we know that their population is not very large. They have been declared an  endangered species, although they hardly have predators. Only people in Eskimo villages hunt narwhals.

Narwhal’s food

The narwhal feeds only on fish and crustaceans, being a carnivorous animal. It can fish on the surface fish banks, but it is common for it to dive to feed  on the creatures that inhabit the sea floor.

It feeds especially when winter begins and has just emigrated north, back to cooler waters. When in the waters where he lives there is only ice, he eats very little or no food. They can digest very slowly, which means that the ingested prey keeps them nourished for weeks or months.

The narwhal is another species of cetacean in danger of extinction,  but ,  luckily, its protection is guaranteed. Although it is difficult to study it and get to know it in depth, it  seems that its population remains stable.  They don’t have many predators and the biggest danger they have to survive is pollution.

Main image source: Dr. Kristin Laidre, Polar Science Center