Whale of the Month: Narwhals

What whale are we talking about this month? Today we’re looking at the elusive narwhal (Monodon monoceros), the “unicorn” of the sea. Oh, come on. There’s no way those are real. I get your skepticism, but narwhals exist. They live in the Arctic, where relatively few people see them. And yes, just as you might see in cartoons, male narwhals have a single spiraling “horn” on the front of their faces. Technically it’s called a tusk, but it’s actually a really long tooth. View this post on Instagram Only males? Unfair, if you ask me. It’s not completely exclusive. A few female narwhals have been documented with tusks, although it’s rare. If it’s any consolation, male narwhals take about twice as long to reach maturity as females — as much as 20 years. That tracks. So what are the tusks for? Biologists are still not entirely sure. Some sources say the tusks help to attract mates or achieve dominance among males (who often cross tusks like two swordsmen preparing to duel, a behavior known as “tusking”). View this post on Instagram Other research points out that they’re jam-packed with nerve endings — millions of ’em — that may help narwhals understand what’s going on around them, especially temperature changes. Still other sources say tusks are for fighting or feeding. Feeding? Do they spear their prey? No — it would be hard to get a fish back off the tusk to eat if they did that. But the reality is even weirder: Some narwhals have been observed whacking cod with their tusks, stunning them or knocking them out and making them easier to eat. We learned about that in 2016 — after 400 years of wondering what the tusks are for — thanks to drone-mounted remote cameras, which continue to help with narwhal research. A 2025 study observed narwhals chasing an Arctic fish species called char and “using their tusks to hit, manipulate, and influence the behavior of fish.” Some of this could almost be described as playing with your food. They didn’t always get to eat the char, though; gulls sometimes stole the fish, a behavior called kleptoparasitism. That should be on one of those word-a-day calendars. Hey, what’s the deal with narwhals’ name? It’s kinda different from most other whales. “Narwhal” comes from their Old Norse name, nárhval, which translates to “corpse whale.” It seems their gray, mottled skin resembles … well, you can probably connect the dots. Gross. Well, that’s the Vikings for you. That Norse name seems to have stuck in the public consciousness worldwide, but these whales had a few other names around the Arctic. The Inuit call them tuugaalik, qilalugaq, or qilalugaq qernertaq. You said people don’t see them very often. Why not? Well for one thing, they live in remote, ice-covered parts of the Arctic: central Canada, Greenland, and Russia. The mostly Indigenous peoples in those regions have long traditions of living with narwhals — they figure into a lot of cultural traditions dating back millennia. But the Arctic’s still not a popular tourist destination (although several narwhal sightseeing tours operate on Baffin Island and other Arctic sites). They’re also deep divers and have been known to swim more than 7,000 feet below the surface, which isn’t exactly hospitable territory for you and me. And, of course, narwhals — like all whales — don’t do well in captivity, so if you don’t see one on TV you’re probably not going to see one. The few attempts to display them in aquariums ended in tragedy (some might say predictably) more than 50 years ago. That sucks. Are they endangered? Not officially. The IUCN, which assesses the extinction risk of species around the world, used to list them as “near threatened.” The latest assessment, published in 2017, moved them up the scale to “least concern,” with an estimated global population of at least 123,000 mature individuals. But that report cautioned that we don’t know the health of several subpopulations, especially in Russia. A more recent study published in 2022 found that one narwhal population in Greenland shrank between 2007 and 2019. This is one of the few areas where narwhals have experienced much hunting, and that’s caused a decline in the percentage of females (who are slower and easier to catch) and juveniles (who need moms to begin with, obviously). It’s great they’re not at risk right now. Still, climate change must pose a threat for an Arctic species like this. Most likely. Narwhals live in icy environments. We just don’t know how well they’ll fare if ice patterns keep changing. Research suggests they’ll be vulnerable, though. A 2010 paper found that they species’ “extreme morphological and physiological adaptations enabling year-round Arctic residency … limit behavioral flexibility for responding to alternations in sea ice.” Specifically, the paper found narwhals have a narrow temperature preference — they avoid areas about 35 degrees (2° C). They can also only travel about nine-tenths of a mile before coming up for air, which is fine under “normal” conditions, but climate change could cause more ice to break free and congregate into large, impenetrable masses. If climate change alters temperature levels and changes ice patterns, the whales could be in trouble. More recent research, published in 2020, studied narwhal genetics and found that they have low genetic diversity, presumably due to geographic constriction during the last glacial period. That suggests they’ll be vulnerable in the future. Right now, though, the biggest threats to them seem to come from oil and gas development and commercial shipping. Human activities like this really stress them out — and narwhals don’t do well under stress. That sounds like the other whales we’ve discussed. Any other cool facts to share? A few! They’re closely related to beluga whales — in fact, if you take off the tusk and paint a narwhal white, they’d look pretty much the same. (PS: Don’t do that.) One of their physical similarities between the two species is their large melons, a mass of fatty tissue seen in all toothed whales (including dolphins and porpoises, who aren’t really whales, but don’t get me started). The melon remains a bit of a mystery, but scientists have linked it to communication, which for narwhals includes echolocation. Like bats? Yup. It helps them find prey and avoid barriers — a useful tool deep underwater, past where the sun can reach. Narwhals also have a wide range of other vocalizations, and they’re one of the whale species that seem to have different calls from pod to pod, a sign that they have learned behaviors that might be akin to culture in humans. On a more physical level, narwhals are uniquely adapted to Arctic life, with slow-twitch muscles that reserve oxygen — I’ve seen them described as “greyhound-like” — and a thick blubber that protects them from the cold. So what’s your favorite thing about narwhals? Well, for me, it’s just that they’re so damn easy and fun to draw. They don’t have prominent dorsal fins (or many other extraneous details), they have big goofy heads, and the tusks are just magical. I’ve drawn them as cartoons and done several narwhal paintings, which always lead to fun conversations about whales and conservation in general. View this post on Instagram Go figure! So what whale are we talking about next month? Haven’t decided yet. There are just so many interesting whale species, both in the news and out of the public eye. I guess you’ll just have to wait and see… Can I sing the narwhal song now? Sure, just wait for me to leave the room. Previously in The Revelator: Whale of the Month: Minke Whale