Allanguaaq • Narwhal

The narwhal is a strictly Arctic medium-sized whale. Narwhals are most famous for their unique tusk found on adult males. This tusk is in fact a tooth that erupts from the upper left lip of narwhal males. Narwhals spend their winter in David Strait, between Baffin Island and Greenland. When the ice starts to melt, the undergo a long migration to reach the fjords and bays of Baffin Island and Greenland, where it is possible to observe them from the shore. They seem to return to the same location every summer. Narwhals eat squids, shrimps and fish (Arctic cod, Arctic char, Greenland halibut). Narwhals are very social. They are never seen alone and form groups of up to a few hundreds individuals. Narwhal use echolocation to navigate and find preys. They also emit whistle and pulsed sound to communication with the other members of their groups. Female narwhal give birth to one calf every three years. The narwhal is currently hunted by Inuit in Greenland and Canada. The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) has listed the narwhals as an “Special Concern ” species and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) have given conservation status “Near Threatened”. The main threats to narwhals are increasing industrial development in the Arctic, climate change and hunting. Better estimates of population size and trend are required.

Main Photo Credit: Narwhals breach by oooOOC, (n.d.). https://www.flickr.com/photos/dafni/23344377835/in/photolist-ByS3e2-5ZmL4s-yTWEk-av1pAT-eKV2dF-dCVcgC-2LziLQ-e9pS2f-8ZEwJt-5FbLpE-61rfZ7-9pDmuG-7Nz3uV-95tfHf-e79Z5L-yTYqN-7P9k6W-b2ZFGk-dBPBUB-abyHpo-8PTmNU-9pyAut-a9P8rQ-9WjLV9-foJVLc-8XWDcK-5nFnoa-f1Nzrf-dwbEee-8XYLsV-e6v3HN-5todYD-9pHzTY-nS5xGB-myzmTi-8aizS4-8CoK1f-CeXVBs-51QtyL-cJ4jsh-e9yEtv-rPQatT-5XUxzM-fWcgyR-4xKWyC-8YNQvC-ekyHei-bue8Lu-cTKMuC-cJ4h67. Licenced with CC BY-NC-SA 2.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0
Second Photo Credit: Narwhal surface in ice by Paul Gierszewski, (n.d.). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Narwhal_at_ice_edge.jpg. Licenced with CC BY-SA 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
Third Photo Credit: A pod of narwhals. Note the spiral configuration of the single tusk. by Dr. Kristin Laidre, Polar Science Center, UW NOAA/OAR/OER, (n.d.). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narwhal#/media/File:Pod_Monodon_monoceros.jpg. Licenced with Public Domain.