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Introduction Narwhals, the unicorns of the sea, are very mysterious creatures that are not widely known. They are whales with many fascinating features and historical value. This research paper is answering the question, What are Narwhals? . General Description Monodon Monoceros, Latin for one tooth, one horn#; or Narwhal, Norwegian for corpse whale, because of it mottled coloration suggests a bloated corpse#. Narwhals are in the white whale family, along with the beluga, but are actually covered with spots of black, white, gray-green, and cream. Newborns are dappled gray-brown, white spots come with age#.
At birth the calves are about 5 feet long and 180 pounds. Male Narwhals can reach 16 feet long, not including the horn which is 8 to 9 feet long, and weigh around 3000 pounds. Females are around 13 ft. long, do not have tusks, and weight around 2000 pounds. Adult males and females are usually dark in the area of the head, especially top of the head and upper and lower jaws#. Unlike most other whales, Narwhals have no dorsal fin, instead they have a low bumpy ridge that begins at about the midpoint of the back and continues to the fluke#.
Tusks The tusks, giving Narwhals the name Sea Unicorn, is actually a tooth that can reach up to nine feet long and can weigh up to 20 pounds. Males and females are born with two teeth pointing forward in the upper jaw#. The left tooth of the male grows long and spirals counter clockwise toward the tip. On rare occasions there have been Narwhals with twin tusks. Research on Narwhals supports the idea that the tusk is both a weapon and a symbol of dominance in ritual displays#.
Some other ideas about what the tusk is used for include the following: ice breaker or and instrument to poke breathing holes in ice#; rake to stir up the sea bottom for food#; skewer to impale prey species#. One hundred out of three hundred and four males tusks are broken, this might be a result of fighting#. Narwhal tusk can heal itself. Newman, a whale expert, suggests, If the tusk breaks, it is possible that infection is avoided because of dentine deposits which fill the broken end. This reparative function could explain descriptions by old whalers of Narwhals with broken tusks exhibiting a plug in the broken end#.
Tusks sold for $ 1. 25 a pound in 1962, in 1974 it went up to $ 25 a pound, and in 1976 it was $ 35 #. Hunters of Narwhals sold tusks for $ 800 or more if it was perfect. The tusks are so valuable today that one was recently sold in New York for $ 4, 500. At one time tusks were, worth ten times their weight in gold#. Buemmer said, Prince of Saxony paid 100, 000 taler's for a unicorn horn, and Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, settled what would amount in present-day terms to a million-dollar debt to the Margrave of Beyrenth by presenting him with two unicorn horns. Habitat and Migration Narwhals are migratory whales of the Arctic Sea.
They are mostly sighted in Greenland and Canada. They inhabit bays and inlets in the warmer months, moving south into deeper water when the ice begins to form. The present number of Narwhals is 30, 000 #, most of which live in Baffin Bay-Davis Strait. The number in Baffin Bay-Davis Strait is about 20, 000.
Behavior Behavior is a unique characteristic of Narwhals. Another reason Narwhal in Norway means corpse whale, is that Narwhals often swim belly up. Narwhals swim in pods of twenty to two-thousand. Small pods have mostly females with calves and one tusked male.
The pods usually swim slowly, but when pursued they swim at high speeds. Narwhals have no particular breeding season. Most births are in the summer months, when the fjords and bays are free of ice and the females can take refuge in protected areas# Mothers calve every three years after a gestation period of about 15 months#. Calves stay with their mother for as long as 20 months.
Narwhal make many different sounds from shrill whistles to low growls. It still does not make as many sounds as its fellow white whale, the Beluga. Watkins and Colleagues, a group that studies whales, concluded, Monodon is much less noisy than the Beluga and appears to have a smaller variety of sounds. Narwhals eat fish like Arctic cod, Greenland Halibut, and Flounder; they also eat squid, octopus, and Pelagic Shrimp. Harm The Narwhals main predators are Killer Whales, Greenland Shark, the Campus monodontis (the Narwhal louse), and humans. Narwhals can defend themselves with their tusks from Killer Whale and Greenland Shark, but not from humans such as the Inuit Hunters.
Though Narwhals are not endangered, they are in low numbers. The Narwhal is being killed off faster than it can reproduce. Inuit villages have an annual limit of 542 #. A Polar Eskimo may hunt for 72 hours at a time. They hunt not only Narwhals, but walrus and seal as well. The World Market had a drop on sealskin prices and that has enhanced the economic importance of Narwhals to these hunters#.
When the hunters sell tusks they use the money to buy heating oil, radios, motorboats, installments on village houses and boats, gasoline, ammunition, cloth, and other items that help comfort families living in the icy polar environment. Greenlanders and Baffin Islanders like the delicious Muktuk, or skin, that is rich in vitamins, and the concentration of vitamin C helps prevent scurvy. On a full grown Narwhal there are about 200 to 300 pounds of Muktuk. Exploratory mining areas inhabited by Narwhals are polluting the waters and may prove to be an even greater hazard to the species. Conclusion Narwhals are migratory white whales that live in the Arctic Ocean, near Greenland and Canada.
They eat fish and other small sea animals. A long tooth can be seen growing from the male Narwhals upper lip. They are preyed upon by Killer Whales, Sharks, and humans. People used to think that the Narwhal was a unicorn of the sea. Narwhals numbers are diminishing fast.
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