ABOUT
THE NARWHAL
Narwhals (aka Monodon monoceros)
My IUCN status: Near threatened. The only reason we have these for
sale is that they were imported before 1970 to the U.S., after which time
the U.S. does not import them from Canada. We can only ship them
within the United States.
It is one of the rarest animals in the ocean. The narwhal is known for its
distinct tusk, which landed it the nickname “unicorn of the sea.” But
the “tusk” is actually a tooth! The teeth are very sensitive, and have up to 10 million nerve endings inside each one. All
are born with two teeth, but they change as we get older. Males usually have one tooth that becomes much more prominent than the other, where females typically lose their teeth.
The tooth can grow up to 9 feet long! Sometimes a double tooth grows
permanently.
I’m a porpoise and am related to orcas, harbor porpoises and bottlenose dolphins. Porpoises like us travel in groups called pods. Narwhal pods are usually made up of anywhere from 10 to 100 individuals but sometimes our pods can number almost a thousand.
My closest relative is the beluga whale, here is a photo of both the
beluga and the narwhal.
The narwhal
How long they live: Up to 50 years
Where they like to hang out: in the frigid cold waters in and around the Arctic.
Where they live: Unlike other whale species that migrate from the Arctic in the winter,
they spend the whole year in the circumpolar Arctic waters of Canada, Greenland and
Russia.
What they like to eat: Mainly squid, fish and shrimp
The narwhal was one of the many species originally described by Linnaeus in his Systema
Naturae. Its name is derived from the Old Norse word nár, meaning "corpse", in reference to the animal's greyish, mottled pigmentation, like that of a drowned
sailor, and its summer-time habit of lying still at or near the surface of the sea (called
"logging"). The scientific name, Monodon monoceros, is derived from the Greek: "one-tooth one-horn"
