Life

What is a narwhal?

What is a narwhal?

The narwhal, also known as a narwhale ( Monodon monoceros ), is a medium-sized toothed whale that possesses a large ” tusk ” from a protruding canine tooth. It lives year-round in the Arctic waters around Greenland, Canada and Russia. It is one of two living species of whale in the family Monodontidae, along with the beluga whale.

What is the narwhal’s tusk like?

The narwhal looks like a cross between a whale and a unicorn with its long, spiraled tusk jutting from its head. Males most commonly have tusks, and some may even have two. The tusk, which can grow as long as 10 feet, is actually an enlarged tooth. Ongoing research by WWF collaborators indicates that the tusk has sensory capability,…

What is life like for a narwhal with flukes?

They have odd-shaped tail flukes that look as though they have been put on backwards. What’s life like for a narwhal? Narwhals live in groups of 10 to 20 individuals but in the summer they come together in groups of hundreds or even thousands of whales to migrate. They travel together, swimming fast and close to the surface.

What is the iissn for Narwhal?

ISSN 0027-9358. OCLC 643483454. M. P. Heide-Jorgensen. “Narwhal”, in Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals, Perrin, Wursig and Thewissen eds. ISBN 0-12-551340-2 Groc, Isabelle.

What did Linnaeus say about narwhals?

Linnaeus, 1758. The frequent (solid) and rare (striped) occurrence of narwhal populations. The narwhal or narwhale ( Monodon monoceros) is a medium-sized toothed whale that possesses a large ” tusk ” from a protruding canine tooth. It lives year-round in the Arctic waters around Greenland, Canada, and Russia.

Is the narwhal’s Smile a mystery of evolution?

Marine Mammal Science. 31 (2): 479–500. doi: 10.1111/mms.12165. ^ a b “For a dentist, the narwhal’s smile is a mystery of evolution”. Smithsonian Insider. 18 April 2012.

What is the difference between a narwhal and a beluga?

The narwhal males are distinguished by a long, straight, helical tusk, which is an elongated upper left canine. The narwhal was one of many species described by Carl Linnaeus in his publication Systema Naturae in 1758. Like the beluga, narwhals are medium-sized whales.

How did the narwhal get its tusk?

In Inuit legend, the narwhal’s tusk was created when a woman with a harpoon rope tied around her waist was dragged into the ocean after the harpoon had struck a large narwhal. She was transformed into a narwhal and her hair, which she was wearing in a twisted knot, became the characteristic spiral narwhal tusk.

What did Jules Verne say about the narwhal?

Verne thought that it would be unlikely that there was such a gigantic narwhal in existence. The size of the narwhal, or “unicorn of the sea”, as found by Verne, would have been 18.3 m (60 ft). For the narwhal to have caused the phenomenon, Verne stated that its size and strength would have to increase by five or ten times.

What is Obama’s narwhal project?

This year, however, as part of a project code-named Narwhal, Obama’s team is working to link once completely separate repositories of information so that every fact gathered about a voter is available to every arm of the campaign.

Why study the genome of the narwhal?

The genome will help to place the narwhal both into the evolutionary context of other whales but also will help to understand the evolution and embryonic development of features such as the striking tusk and its sexual dimorphism. The narwhal is found predominantly in the Atlantic and Russian areas of the Arctic Ocean.