Marine mammals
Narwhal
Monodon monoceros
Epipelagic zone · Mesopelagic zone
Nicknamed "the unicorn of the sea", this Arctic whale carries a long spiralled tusk that long fuelled the unicorn myth in Europe.
🗺️ Geographic range
Arctic waters of Canada, Greenland, Norway (Svalbard) and Russia.
📊 Population
Global population estimated at around 170,000 mature individuals by the IUCN, considered stable across most of its Arctic range.
Habitat
- Arctic Ocean · Sea Ice · Epipelagic zone · Permanent
🥚 Reproduction
Gestation of about 14 months; only one tusk develops in most males.
Behaviour
- Diet
- Polar cod, Greenland halibut and squid, caught during deep dives.
- Hunting
- Dives up to 800 m in a single breath to hunt near the seafloor.
- Communication
- Clicks and whistles used for echolocation and social communication.
- Social life
- Lives in groups called "pods", with seasonal migrations between pack ice and open water.
Physiology
- Anatomy
- A spiralled tusk, actually a left canine tooth, that can exceed 2.5 m in length.
- Respiration
- Pulmonary: a mammal that must surface regularly to breathe.
- Vision
- Adapted to Arctic twilight.
- Adaptations
- The tusk is thought to contain sensory nerve endings, able to detect salinity or water pressure.
🔗 Web of marine life
Predators
⚡ Its extraordinary abilities
- Its spiralled tusk, actually a tooth, can exceed 2.5 metres in length
- Dives up to 800 m on a single breath to hunt, one of the deepest dives known in a marine mammal
🏆 Records
The longest tooth in any marine mammal
The spiralled tusk can exceed 2.5 metres.
Source: IUCN — Red List of Threatened Species
One of the deepest dives known in a marine mammal
Down to about 800 m on a single breath while hunting.
Source: IUCN — Red List of Threatened Species
🐙 Myths and legends
If you cross paths with this animal…
Risk: No danger to humans.
Behaviour: Shy, lives in isolated Arctic waters.
Advice: A species vulnerable to climate change: its native pack ice shrinks a little more every year.
💡 Did you know?
- Its tusk was long sold in Europe as unicorn horn, at exorbitant prices.
- Only some males occasionally grow two tusks instead of one.
