Friday 17 May
Narwhal (Monodon monoceros)

Top facts
- The narwhal's famous tusk is a hugely elongated tooth, and the largest ever recorded was over 2.5 metres long.
- Typically only the male narwhal grows a tusk, but occasionally females will grow one too, and some males have been seen with two, or none.
Narwhal fact file
- Description
- Biology
- Range
- Habitat
- Status
- Threats
- Conservation
- Find out more
- Glossary
- References
- Print factsheet
Narwhal description
| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Phylum | Chordata |
| Class | Mammalia |
| Order | Cetartiodactyla |
| Family | Monodontidae |
| Genus | Monodon (1) |
Famous for its unicorn-like single tusk, narwhals have inspired legends in many cultures and are still revered across the world. The smooth, white tusk is normally found only on males and is the result of extreme growth of the left elongated maxillary tooth that protrudes through the upper lip in a spiral form. It is believed by the majority of the scientific community that the tusk is a secondary sexual characteristic (8). Females occasionally grow a tusk and males have been seen with two, or none. The largest tusk ever measured was a massive 267 centimetres. Narwhals have a conical body shape and flexible neck with a mottled blue, black, grey and white body fading onto the underside. Older males can be distinguished by their white bodies with mottling only on the top of the back. The dorsal fin is just a low, inconspicuous ridge and the tail fin is concave (3).
- Also known as
- narwhale, unicorn whale.
- French
- Narval.
- Spanish
- Narval.
- Size
- Head-to-tail length: 400 – 500 cm (2)
- Male tusk length: 150 – 267 cm (3)
- Length at birth: 150 – 170 cm (4)
- Weight at birth: 80 kg (4)
- Weight
- 800 – 1600 kg (2)
-
American Cetacean Society:
www.acsonline.org - By-catch
- In the fishing industry, the part of the catch made up of non-target species.
- Cetaceans
- A group comprising all whale species; therefore including dolphins and porpoises.
- Dorsal fin
- The unpaired fin found on the back of the body of fish, or the raised structure on the back of most cetaceans.
- Gestation
- The state of being pregnant; the period from conception to birth.
- Maxillary
- In vertebrates, of or relating to the maxilla, which is the posterior bone of the upper jaw. In certain arthropods, the maxillae are paired structures that act as mouthparts.
- Secondary sexual characteristic
- A characteristic, other than the reproductive organs, that defines males and females.
-
IUCN Red List (November, 2008)
http://www.iucnredlist.org - Macdonald, D. (2001) The New Encyclopedia of Mammals. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
-
Culik, B.M. (2002) Review on Small Cetaceans: Distribution, Migration and Threats. UNEP/CMS Secretariat, Bonn, Germany. Available at:
http://www.cms.int/reports/small_cetaceans/index.htm -
MarineBio.org (April, 2005)
http://marinebio.org/species.asp?id=336 -
CITES (April, 2005)
http://www.cites.org -
CMS (April, 2005)
http://www.cms.int -
Berne Convention (April, 2005)
http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/cultureheritage/conventions/bern/default_en.asp - Heide-Jørgensen, M.P. (2008) Pers. comm.
-
Cetaceans of the World (May, 2005)
http://www.sci.tamucc.edu/tmmsn/29Species/MoreSpec/narwhal.html - view the contents of, and Material on, the website;
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Narwhal biology
Narwhals live in groups of two to ten individuals which may congregate with other groups to form herds of hundreds of individuals (3). They move very slowly and erratically when hunting, searching for fish, squid and shrimps during dives of between 7 and 20 minutes. They are very vocal, clicking and squeaking whilst travelling. Like many cetaceans, surfacing narwhals slap their flippers against the surface and raise their heads and tusks out of the water (9). Narwhals are thought to migrate annually and in very large groups, moving to spend the winter within the heavy pack ice of the Arctic. Predators of narwhals include Greenland sharks, orcas, polar bears, and walruses (3).
Mating takes place between March and May and gestation lasts around 15 months, with births in July and August of the following year. The calves are born tail first and males do not grow their tusks until they have been weaned at around one year of age. Females give birth just once every three years (3).
TopNarwhal range
The narwhal occurs patchily throughout Arctic waters and in the north Atlantic Ocean. The highest narwhal density is found in the eastern Canadian Arctic Ocean and Greenland. It is also found in the waters of Iceland, Svalbard in Norway, Alaska (US), and Russia (3).
See this species on Google Earth.
TopNarwhal habitat
Although traditionally thought of as deep-water cetaceans, narwhals actually forage at all depths, remaining close to the pack ice of the Arctic Ocean (3).
TopNarwhal status
Classified as Near Threatened (NT) on the IUCN Red List (1) and listed on Appendix II of CITES (5). It is also listed on Appendix II of the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS or Bonn Convention) (6) and on Appendix II of the Berne Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats (7).
TopNarwhal threats
Hunted by the Inuit as a subsistence food, narwhals are also hunted for their ivory tusks which are sold as curios or to be carved. The price of narwhal ivory has increased significantly since the 1970s and continues to rise. Narwhals are also susceptible to climate fluctuations and long-term climate change, and as pack ice recedes, their range declines. Narwhals are known to have been trapped under fast-forming ice, preventing them from forming a breathing hole (3).
TopNarwhal conservation
In 1976 the Narwhal Protection Regulations were produced as part of the Canadian Fisheries Act. It contained legislation that required fishing to be limited to quotas, conferring total protection onto mothers and calves, requiring that full use be made of narwhal carcasses, and requiring the full labelling of every tusk obtained. However, these regulations are sometimes poorly enforced. The narwhal is protected in the United States, although the Inuit are exempt from these laws for subsistence hunting only. It is fully protected in Russia and Norway (3), and quotas limit the catch in west Greenland (8). Laws requiring the declaration of narwhal catch, both intentional and by-catch, are necessary throughout this species’ range (3).
TopFind out more
To learn more about the conservation of the narwhal and other whales and dolphins see:
Authentication
Authenticated (07/03/08) by Dr. Mads Peter Heide-Jørgensen, Senior Scientist, Greenland Institute of Natural Resources.
http://www.natur.gl/Default.asp?lang=dk&num=334
Glossary
References
More »Related species
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This species is affected by global climate
change. To learn about climate change
and the species that are affected,
visit our climate change pages.
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