Narwhal or the riddle of the Unicorn
For more than six months, winter reigns in the Arctic with hurricanes, snowstorms, and severe cold. Frost freezes rivers, lakes, and seas with ice. A cold of 20-40, or even 50 degrees is no joke. Many believe that the Arctic Ocean freezes completely from the coast of Asia through the pole to America.
Scientists used to think so. In fact, even in the harshest winter, there are always ice-free polynyas in the center of the Arctic. From year to year they stay in the same places. Some of them received their own special names.
In 1909, the Greenland Polynya nearly forced Robert Peary to abandon his hope of reaching the North Pole and return back. All subsequent expeditions always found wormwood in the same place.
One of the largest, the Great Siberian Polynya, is located near the New Siberian Islands. It was she who did not allow some expeditions to penetrate into the heart of the Arctic, and the legendary Sannikov Land excited the imagination of polar explorers for more than a quarter of a century. There are permanent polynyas off the eastern shores of the Taimyr Peninsula, near Novaya Zemlya and Franz Josef Land.
The chain of areas of non-freezing water, uniting permanent polynyas, is called the Arctic ring of life. It is here, and not at all to the tropics, that guillemots, guillemots, many gulls and other Arctic seabirds flock for the winter.
Seals and seals, polar bears stay here all winter, and arctic foxes also come here from the mainland. These polynyas are the ancestral patrimony of the amazing northern whale - narwhal, or unicorn(Monodon monoceros).
The largest male narwhals are just over 6 meters and weigh approximately a ton. Females are smaller. On the sides of the round foreheaded head are small eyes. The narwhal does not have the usual dolphin “beak”. The lower part of the body is light, the upper part is darker, especially the head. Grayish-brown spots of different sizes are randomly scattered along the back and sides.
The narwhal owes its high popularity to its horn. In the Middle Ages, it was often presented as the horn of a mythical unicorn horse, which had magical properties. The narwhal tusk was the main "fake" unicorn horn. It was believed that he could help identify poisoned wine and put a doomed patient back on his feet.
Narwhals belong to the dolphin family, a suborder of toothed whales. But narwhals are toothless creatures. The lower jaw has no teeth at all. The upper one has only two rudiments. In the female they never erupt. In males, only the left tooth—the tusk—erupts.
It pierces the upper lip and grows straight forward two to three meters, twisting clockwise into a tight, tight corkscrew. Why only the left tooth grows, why it is so huge and has a left “thread” is one of the mysteries of these animals.
A fast-swimming herd looks impressive. The animals stay close together and perform all maneuvers synchronously. Males look no less impressive when they rest calmly on the surface of the sea. Their long tusks are directed forward, sometimes upward and seem to be directed towards the sky.
No one knows for sure why males need tusks. It is assumed that this weapon is a distinctive sign necessary during mating games, although such an assumption is not substantiated. After all, other dolphins during the mating season easily make do with sound and chemical alarms.
Some polar explorers believe that tusks are necessary for males during mating tournaments. Indeed, observing the behavior of narwhals in breeding waters, scientists noticed that the animals often crossed their weapons. However, no one saw it come to serious brawls.
It is believed that tusks help whales during hunting. A school of males surrounds a school of cod or haddock in a large arc. But when the climax of the hunt comes, the “spikes” are not used. At shallow depths in clear ocean water, we were able to observe how narwhals used their tusks to scare bottom-dwelling fish from the ground.
It is possible that fish lying on the bottom are difficult for animals to notice and awkward to grab. However, this is unlikely to be of significant importance. Otherwise, nature would not deprive the females, who especially need to have plenty of food and be well nourished in order to feed their young.
That rare case when a narwhal has 2 tusks
Narwhals are typical inhabitants of the Arctic. When the water is free of ice in summer, they rush north, often reaching 80-85 degrees north latitude, reaching the edge of the polar ice. Polar explorers at northern drifting stations have encountered them more than once.
With the onset of winter, the animals migrate to the south following the movement of the ice edge. Their favorite places are the Canadian Arctic Archipelago and the shores of Greenland, the waters of Spitsbergen, Franz Josef Land and the waters around the northern tip of the North Island of Novaya Zemlya.
Narwhals live in small groups and very rarely form herds of up to a hundred animals. They feed mainly on cephalopods, but do not disdain fish, eating mainly bottom-dwelling slow-moving representatives of the ichthyofauna. Apparently, they are easier to catch with the narwhal's toothless mouth. In search of food, they dive almost half a kilometer and remain under water for a long time.
Frosts are not scary for narwhals. If the sea is covered with fresh ice, the largest male breaks through it with his powerful tusk and back. A small hole is formed, which, if the frost is not severe, the narwhals manage to keep free of ice for a long time. In severe frosts, the entire herd gathers at one outlet. They sometimes spend several months at such outlets. And this is not an emergency. Living in such winter apartments is not uncommon.
Narwhals stay underwater for quite a long time. During this time, they walk several kilometers, searching a huge area, and find enough food for themselves. In winter, like most cetaceans, narwhals apparently do not feed at all.
However, wintering in the Arctic does not always go well. When significant ice movements occur, the ice breaks often close, and individual groups of narwhals find themselves locked in small ice holes. The water in them seems to be boiling with animals trying to break through to the surface and take a breath of air. It is possible that many narwhals die under such conditions.
Sometimes a polar bear comes to small openings where narwhals gather. Without thinking, he jumps on the unicorn's back, kills it and drags it onto the ice. It happens that the polar wanderer is not limited to a single victim. Hiding near the ice hole, the predator kills with a strong blow of its paw and drags out onto the ice one after another the narwhals when the whales emerge to breathe.
One day, polar explorers discovered a bear's nest, near which there were 21 narwhal carcasses neatly stacked. This supply could be enough for a clubfoot hunter to last more than one winter. Usually a polar bear, if it is not very hungry, eats only the entrails and fat of the narwhal, leaving almost nothing else. Only a mother bear and her cubs, who have recently left their den, find a taste for dolphin meat.
However, the hunting of the Arctic tramp is not always so successful. If solid heavy ice has imprisoned several families or herds in one area of the ocean, each of which has “its own” polynya, they maintain an acoustic connection with each other, apparently “visiting” each other; having been attacked, they seek refuge with their neighbors and never return to their refuge.
The Eskimos of Greenland, who hunt seals, narwhals and beluga whales in the ice in winter, and also often while away the winter under ice fields, say that taking two unicorns from one hole is much less common than taking several beluga whales.
Narwhals are well adapted to life in ice. The large male easily crushes ice 5 centimeters thick. If the tusk breaks, then regeneration begins along the edges of the break, and soon the site of damage, along with the dental canal, is closed with a natural bone filling.
In addition to humans and bears, narwhals have another enemy - killer whales. The Eskimos claim that it is because of killer whales that narwhals go to live in drifting ice or enter fiords that extend deep into the land, where killer whales do not like to swim.
Narwhals' eyes have an interesting adaptation for living in cold water. Like all cetaceans, they lie deep. Only the iris is visible through the gap of the eyelids. It is richly supplied with blood vessels that carry heat. In addition, in narwhals, the intraocular fluid circulates quite intensively, which prevents cooling of the photosensitive receptors of the fundus.
For the normal functioning of receptor formations and the conduction of excitation in nerve fibers, a known temperature optimum is required. Everyone has probably noticed how quickly the skin of the hands loses pain sensitivity when working in cold water.
At such moments, you can cause quite significant damage to yourself without causing pain. This arrangement of the eyes indirectly indicates that vision is an important sensory organ for narwhals, although they have to live for a long time in the darkness of their winter apartments under the ice.
Little is known about narwhal family traditions. Adorable bluish-gray or slate-colored newborn narwhals appear to be born at any time of year. They reach a length of 1.5-1.7 meters, and the “boys” do not yet have the famous tusk. For narwhals this is a “wisdom tooth”. He grows up a little later.
Baby narwhals - suckers - are very similar to beluga whales and have light skin; adults are covered with light skin with gray-brown spots.
Like other dolphins, the narwhal has a hydro-echo-locator. How else? At a depth of several hundred meters, under continuous massifs of ice fields, pitch darkness reigns. You can’t find food, wormwood, or your herd.
Many sounds made by narwhals are clearly audible to the human ear. There is nothing surprising. Zoologists consider the unicorn to be the closest relative of the most noisy dolphin - the beluga whale. Narwhals produce sharp sounds that resemble a whistle, sometimes ending in a short explosion.
They make groans (or heavy sighs) reminiscent of similar sounds of a large land animal, such as a cow or a bear, clicks, creaks... Often gurgling sounds are heard in a herd of narwhals, the kind that occurs when gargling.
A few years ago, a group of American scientists decided to study the sounds of the narwhal. There has already been some experience in keeping unicorns in captivity. They lived at the Niagara Fox in the USA and at the Vancouver Aquarium in Canada.
However, in recent decades the animals have become rare enough that capturing them would be prohibitively expensive. Therefore, the narwhals were not brought to the laboratory, but the laboratory went out in search of them. This is what is now always done when researching whales.
During the study, we managed to find two herds of unicorns in the Iceland region. The first was small, 10-12 narwhals. The second consisted of approximately 50 animals. We managed to get almost close to him. A herd of narwhals circled a few meters from the hydrophone. The sounds of individual animals were drowned in a general harmonious chorus. It was extremely difficult to isolate and analyze them.
The size of an adult male often reaches 4.5 meters, weighing about one and a half tons. Females weigh slightly less. The head of an adult narwhal is round, with a large, tuberous forehead, and there is no dorsal fin. Narwhals are somewhat reminiscent of beluga whales, although compared to the latter, the animals have a somewhat spotted skin and 2 upper teeth, one of which, as it grows, turns into a three-meter tusk weighing up to ten kg.
Narwhal and beluga whale belong to the same subfamily Narwhalidae. Unlike dolphins, they do not have a dorsal fin, but only a low crest on their back. Like many other marine mammals, narwhals live in herds. All members of the narwhal herd usually breathe through a hole punched in the ice.
WHAT DOES IT EAT?
Unlike the beluga whale, which hunts in shallow waters, the narwhal feeds in the Arctic depths. It preys mainly on cod, halibut and flounder, as well as shrimp, small cuttlefish and crabs. The narwhal has keen hearing. When hunting, he uses echolocation. Just like a bat, the narwhal sends sound signals into the space around itself, which, when they encounter an obstacle, return back. Using this echo, the narwhal accurately determines the location, size and direction of movement of the object. When diving for prey, the narwhal is capable of descending to a depth of 370 m, and it can remain under water for up to 15 minutes, after which this marine mammal must rise to the surface and inhale air.
The movably connected vertebral discs give flexibility to the narwhal's skeleton and make the animal an agile hunter. In addition to the long spiral twisted tusk, in males another smaller tusk grows from the upper jaw, covered with a lip. The large tooth in females usually grows into the jawbone. The narwhal cannot bite the victim - it grabs it with its jaws and swallows it whole. Therefore, this animal hunts prey of a certain size.
LIFESTYLE
Narwhals live in herds, the largest of which number up to 2,000 animals. Mostly they are found in related groups, but there are also herds in which animals are grouped according to gender and age. Males of the same age usually gather in groups of 8-10 animals. Narwhals are friendly marine animals. They can often be observed in the fjords along with their relatives - beluga whales. It is also interesting to watch the narwhal dozing on the surface of the icy water. The narwhal uses its convex forehead to make a hole in the ice (a hole), to which it returns from time to time if the ice crust is too thick for it in other places. A narwhal can stay underwater for fifteen minutes. In the fall, when the Arctic waters are frozen, narwhals swim south in large herds, where they spend the winter.
REPRODUCTION
Narwhals breed in the spring, from March to May. The dominant male assembles a harem and mates with several females. Over 14-15 months, usually in mid-July, the female gives birth to one cub. The pause between births in these animals is 3 years - during this time the female takes care of her baby. A long break between births and a small number of newborns is a serious obstacle to the survival of the species. The cub leaves the mother's womb with its tail first. Immediately after this, the female pushes him to the surface with her nose so that his lungs are filled with air for the first time. The length of a baby narwhal is 1.5 m, weight is about 80-90 kg. It has gray-blue skin. With age, a black and white pattern appears on the skin, which is called “salt and pepper.” The mother gradually accustoms the child to independence, leaving him alone when she swims in search of prey. One-year-old males begin to grow a tusk, which grows surprisingly quickly.
GENERAL PROVISIONS
The narwhal is a speckled brownish whale. It is also called the sea unicorn. The length of these rare whales reaches 6 meters. They live in the waters of the Arctic and North Antarctica, along the edge of the ice in the open sea.
They live in herds. They feed on squid, flounder and other fish. One cub is born every 2-3 years. Males are decorated with a tusk twisted like a screw, up to 3 meters long. This is a huge tooth that has grown through the upper lip. During mating games, males “fence” with this weapon.
INTERESTING INFORMATION. DID YOU KNOW THAT...
- In the Middle Ages, people believed that the narwhal's tusk was the horn of a unicorn and attributed miraculous healing properties to it. Queen Elizabeth II of England kept the narwhal horn as a valuable relic.
- Some male narwhals (unicorns) have two tusks, the spirals on which have one direction - twist to the left. The length of the tusk can reach 3 meters. It is visible from under the upper lip and is growing all the time. Sometimes such a tusk grows in female narwhals.
- Along with the narwhal, the beluga whale belongs to the narwhal subfamily - also the only species of the genus.
- The Old Norse word "rod" means "corpse". The narwhal, or "corpse whale," was so named because the mottled coloration of the older animals was similar to that of a corpse.
CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF THE NARWHAL
Body: The streamlined shape is ideal for fast swimming. The back is covered with numerous black spots, the belly is white. The ends near the rounded pectoral fins (modified forelimbs) bend upward with age. The dorsal fin is low.
Male tusk: its purpose is unknown. Perhaps the narwhal uses it as a weapon while defending its territory.
Young: has a dark gray-blue color.
- Habitat of the narwhal
WHERE DOES HE LIVE?
The narwhal animal lives in Arctic and subarctic waters, under an ice crust or drifting ice, off the coast of Alaska, Canada, Greenland and Spitsbergen.
PROTECTION AND PRESERVATION
Poachers and sea pollution pose a threat to narwhals. The narwhal population ranges from 25,000 to 30,000 animals, of which approximately half live off the northwestern coast of Greenland.
#12 Narwhal Unicorn - narval Stories Northern. Video (00:01:47)
Unicorns are not fairy-tale creatures, they are reality. Narwhals were called unicorns - mammals of the unicorn family, the only species of the narwhal genus. Narwhals are very beautiful and powerful animals. Adult males reach a length of 3.5-4.5 m and weigh about 1.5 tons. Females are smaller than males: their length is about 3 m, weight - 900 kg. A third of their mass is subcutaneous fat. In the wild, narwhals can live up to 55 years, but in captivity they die after 3-4 months.
The narwhal or aquatic unicorn is an inhabitant of the Arctic Ocean, a close relative of the beluga whale, and belongs to the family of cetacean mammals.
The average body length is 4 - 4.5 m, the maximum recorded length is 6 m for the male and 4.5 m for the female. Baby narwhals are born with a length of 1.5 m. Weight ranges from 900 to 1500 kg on average.
Their body structure is similar to beluga whales, but there are significant differences. First, narwhals have dark spots on the upper body of varying sizes and shapes that appear as they age. Secondly, a unique dental system. Females have only two teeth that do not erupt. And in males, the left tooth (tusk, horn) reaches a length of 2.5 - 3 m, has high strength and flexibility. During growth, the tusk twists in a spiral, resembling a corkscrew. The second tooth does not erupt. The purpose of such a huge tooth has not been revealed by scientists. There is an assumption that it serves as a tool to attract females during the mating season. It is also suspected that this is an antenna that allows one to determine the temperature of the water or its composition and depth. In any case, narwhals never use their tusk for attack and rarely for piercing ice.
In winter, narwhals dive to depths of up to 1.5 km to protect themselves from cold Arctic waters. After some time, they return to the surface for air and again go deeper. They make about 15 such dives per day. Also, these representatives of the aquatic world are protected from cold water by a 10 cm layer of subcutaneous fat. In the summer season, the depth of stay is from 30 to 300 m.
The food source of these creatures is cephalopods and various types of bottom fish. And the main enemies are killer whales and polar bears. Babies can sometimes be attacked by sharks.
Animals live in small groups and very rarely alone. The mating season is spring, and pregnancy lasts 14 months. Most often, one baby is born.
Aquatic unicorns practically do not tolerate captivity. This is evidenced by the fact that in captivity they can live no more than six months, but in the wild they can live up to 55 years. The exact number of narwhal representatives is not known, but they are considered a rare, small species listed in the Red Book of Russia.
Video: Narwhals (lat. Monodon monoceros)
Narwhal (Monodon monoceros)- medium-sized representative of the suborder odontocetes (Odontoceti), known for having a long, straight tusk in males. The narwhal is one of two living whales from the narwhal family. (Monodontidae), along with the beluga whale.
Description
The average body length of a narwhal is about 470 cm for males and 400 cm for females. The average weight of males is 1,600 kg, females - 900 kg. About one third of your weight is fat. The color of adults is brownish or dark gray on the upper part and light on the lower part, with a spotted pattern throughout the body. With age, the color becomes paler. The head is relatively small, the muzzle is blunt, and the nose is short and rounded. There is no dorsal fin, but on the back half of the back there is a small ridge about 5 cm long and 60-90 cm high.
On the upper jaw, narwhals have only two teeth. The teeth of females, as a rule, do not develop into a tusk. In males, the left tooth protrudes through the upper lip and develops into a straight tusk with a spiral pattern in a counterclockwise direction. The tusk reaches a length of one third to half the body length, and sometimes grows up to 300 cm and weighs 10 kg. In rare cases, a tusk develops from the right tooth. Sometimes one or even two tusks grow in females. The distal end of the tusk has a polished appearance, while the rest is usually covered with red or green algae. The internal cavity of the tusk is permeated with vessels and nerve endings.
Area
Narwhals live in the Arctic Ocean from the eastern Canadian Arctic to central Russia, but are occasionally found in the waters of eastern Siberia, Alaska and the western Canadian Arctic.
Habitat
Narwhals occupy one of the northernmost habitats of any cetacean species, between 70 and 80° north latitude. They are more demanding of their habitat than other whales and for this reason have a limited range. Narwhals are rarely found far from loose ice, and prefer deep waters. The largest concentrations of narwhals are concentrated in the Davis Strait, Baffin Sea and Greenland Sea. The advance and retreat of ice initiates migration.
In summer, narwhals occupy deep bays and fjords. The most famous and probably the world's largest population of narwhals lives in the deep bays of the eastern Canadian Arctic and northwestern Greenland.
Nutrition
Narwhals eat a variety of foods ranging from squid and fish to. The narwhal's multiple functional teeth are believed to be used to suck in and eject a jet of water to dislodge prey such as bottom-dwelling fish and shellfish. Their highly flexible necks help them explore wider areas and capture more mobile prey.
Behavior
The narwhal is a social animal and is usually found in schools of six to twenty individuals, although most groups tend to number between three and eight individuals. Smaller groups usually gather during the migration season to form a flock of hundreds or even thousands of individuals.
Narwhals remain in close proximity to the ice throughout the year. There are various hypotheses about the main functions of the tusk. Perhaps males use it for competition. It can also be used to obtain food. Since most females do not have a tusk, the most likely assumption is that these are secondary sexual characteristics.
Reproduction
The mating system of narwhals is still a mystery. The gestation period is about 15.3 months, with mating occurring in March–May and birth in July–August of the following year. The duration of lactation is unknown, but it is assumed that it is about 20 months. The interval between births is usually three years. Narwhals copulate in an upright position, belly to belly. Most often, a single baby is born, but there are also a few documented cases of twins being born. Birth occurs tail first. The body length of newborn narwhals is 1.5-1.7 meters, weight is about 80 kg, and the layer of subcutaneous fat is 25 mm. Physical maturity occurs at a body length of 4 meters and a weight of 900 kg in females and 4.7 meters and 1600 kg in males. These parameters usually correspond to ages from 4 to 7 years.
Lifespan
In the wild, narwhals can live up to 50 years or more, but attempts to breed them in captivity have not been successful. Given the fact that an adult male can grow up to 7 meters in length, narwhals are too large animals for most institutions to keep in captivity.
Role in the ecosystem
Economic value for humans: Positive
Historically, narwhals were the main source of food for many Arctic peoples.
Economic significance for humans: Negative
There are no known adverse economic effects of narwhal on humans.
Security status
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the narwhal as a Near Threatened Species.
Video
There are a huge number of different species of mammals in the order Cetacea. The most notable among them are narwhals. They owe their popularity to their long horn or tusk, which protrudes straight from their mouth and reaches a length of 3 meters. This tusk consists of bone tissue, but along with its hardness, it is extremely flexible. In reality, it is nothing more than one of the two upper teeth that has pierced the upper lip and come out. Such a tusk weighs 10 kg.
Narwhal whale or dolphin
The narwhal has no more teeth. Females and males have only two of them. The left tooth grows into the tusk only in males. The right tooth is hidden in the upper gum and does not manifest itself in any way throughout its life. Very rarely, in some individuals it also begins to grow rapidly and turns into a second tusk. What this is connected with is unknown. But it’s no secret that if a narwhal breaks its tusk or horn, it never grows back, and the wound is quickly healed with bone tissue, and the mammal continues to live with the broken piece, without experiencing any discomfort.
For greater elasticity and reliability, the tusk is twisted clockwise and has a spiral shape. It contains a huge number of microscopic cavities. They are filled with very sensitive nerve endings. Why does an animal need such a complex and, at first glance, absolutely useless apparatus? There is no answer to this question. Most likely, the tusk functions as some kind of locator or transmitting and receiving antenna. It monitors changes in temperature and pressure in the environment, and through it the narwhal can inform its relatives of danger. All this is guesswork and speculation. It is also confusing that females do not have such formations. They are the prerogative of males. Males often rub their antlers, thus cleaning them of mineral deposits and growths.
Appearance and habitat
The narwhal is a fairly large animal. Some representatives of this species reach 5 meters in length. The usual length ranges from 4 meters. The male weighs one and a half tons. Females weigh from 900 kg to a ton. For some reason, this mammal does not have a dorsal fin. Only side fins and a powerful tail are available. The narwhal's head is round, with a prominent frontal tubercle. The mouth is low and very small. The belly of the mammal is light in color. The back and head are much darker. The entire upper part of the body is covered with grayish-brown spots of varying sizes, making the back and head even darker. The eyes are small, deeply recessed, with actively circulating intraocular fluid. That is, they are fully adapted to the harsh Arctic conditions, and are also endowed with acute vision.
Narwhals have a thick layer of subcutaneous fat. This is not surprising, since their entire life passes in the cold waters of the Arctic Ocean. The Canadian Arctic Archipelago region, Greenland and Spitsbergen are their favorite places. They also like the waters near Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya. During winter they can be found in the bays of the Bering Sea. Here they get all the way to the Commander Islands. During this cold season they are also frequent guests in the White Sea.
In the short Arctic summer, when the ice retreats, the narwhal can even reach 85° N. w. With the onset of autumn, the mammal moves south. In winter, it prefers polynyas with an ice shell covering the water. Near these small holes in the ice, narwhals while away the harsh Arctic winter months. Frost often covers ice holes with thin ice. Males break this barrier to the air with their heads. It must be said that they are even capable of breaking through an ice crust 10 cm thick. Although these animals are relatives of dolphins, they are significantly superior to them in their capabilities. This primarily concerns staying in the deep sea. The dolphin is capable of diving to a maximum of 300 meters. The narwhal easily overcomes this mark and can feel quite comfortable at a depth of 500 and even 600 meters. It is believed that these animals dive even to a depth of 1000 meters. The same applies to the time spent under water. For a dolphin, the limit is 15 minutes. Its brother with a long horn is able to remain without air for as long as 25 minutes. So the depths of the sea are almost a home for the narwhal.
Reproduction and lifestyle
These mammals reproduce slowly. They reach sexual maturity only at 5 years of age. They mate in the spring. Pregnancy lasts 15 months. One cub is born. Twins are a very rare occurrence. The baby is born large. Its body length is one and a half meters. Females that have given birth unite into one flock. It can consist of 10-15 individuals. Males live separately. They also unite in groups of 10-12 heads.
Narwhals feed mainly on mollusks and crustaceans. Fish is also included in their diet. The same cod, flounder, halibut and goby are an integral part of the menu of these animals. When hunting bottom fish, the male often uses his tusk. He scares the victim with it, forcing it to rise from the bottom.
The study of these cetacean mammals is a very difficult task. The thing is that the narwhal does not live in captivity. Once captured, he begins to waste away day by day and after three weeks dies. There is no question about breeding in captivity at all. But in the ocean, the animal lives up to 40-45 years. Nowadays, there are about 50 thousand heads of these amazing creations of nature.
The narwhal has serious enemies. The first place of honor is occupied by man. He kills an animal for its fat, as well as for sport, to show off his exotic horn to his friends. Nowadays, killing females with cubs is strictly prohibited. This is considered poaching. Only the indigenous peoples of the north are allowed to kill males. The rest of the two-legged public has no right to engage in narwhal fishing. If these prohibitions were strictly followed, then life would be much easier for poor mammals.
Killer whales take second place. These powerful and ferocious predators mercilessly kill narwhals if they get in their way. As a result, animals with tusks try to get as far into cold waters as possible. They also prefer narrow and long fjords, where huge killer whales prefer not to swim.
The polar bear is in third place. Clubfoot catches narwhals in the harsh winter, when these animals cluster near small holes in the ice. The predator usually lies quietly near the hole and waits for the narwhal to stick its head out of the water to take a life-giving breath of air. As a rule, the hunt is successful. But the bear is only lucky once.
Having lost a comrade, the flock begins to make sharp sounds. They are somewhat reminiscent of a shrill whistle. Other flocks respond to it, clustering in the distance near similar holes. Those in trouble move towards them, and the unlucky predator is left with his nose. In general, narwhals are very talkative. They communicate with each other through gurgling or whistling-like sounds. Sometimes you can hear a moo or something similar to a creaking sound.
The fourth enemy of these mammals is considered to be walruses. True, they are not as dangerous as other predators. The majority of fanged animals are quite loyal to narwhals. Only individual cleavers can show a sudden attack of aggression and kill an unwary animal with a horn.
