Earlier I was passively watching as my wallpapers faded in and out for my screen saver, and an image of a narwhal jumping over a cloud appeared. I stared at it for some time before noticing the tusk. I didn't realize that it is more in a nose-like position, rather than on the forehead. This discovery led me to google search images of narwhals to find out the truth, and I found far more discoveries than I had intended.
Before I go any further with this informative blog, if you don't know what a narwhal is, then you have lived a sad life. These are narwhals:
For a bit of history, apparently in the Dark Ages of Europe the tusks of narwhals were thought to be horns from the mythical Unicorn. Probably due to this legend, they were thought to cure ailments with their magic. In the 1600s, someone discovered that the narwhal was the true source of the strange spiral tooth, and that rather than being as short and weathered as they would find them there, they were actually around nine or ten feet long - two-thirds the length of the actual whale. Some narwhals even have two tusks, so as soon as they were discovered, they became something prized and worth hunting, though currently I believe the inuits make up most of the hunters involved and they already knew about it.
Although the population is small, it is stable. It only has three predators: men, orcas and polar bears. The greatest thing for our unicorns of the sea, is that they can dive deeper than any other marine mammal, which is probably a fantastic way to escape from all three of its predators. Also, if you think about it, how many people live as far north as the Inuits? Other than the Inuits themselves, not many. Of course, when they were considered a magical beast, Vikings would hunt them, because the horn supposedly had magical powers that could heal melancholia and help with poisoning. I have no idea if there is any scientific evidence that narwhal tusks are good for any such thing, but I do think it would be cool to have a tusk-cup nonetheless. These were used for upper class people who thought that the horn of a unicorn would keep them from being poisoned.
Currently, I am really jealous of Queen Elizabeth. She had her own narwhal tusk set with jewels and all. Someday, I would like a tusk. Or better yet, an oceanfront home and a narwhal friend that would let me ride upon its back. Then we could rule the seven seas together! The problem with that is that either the water would be too warm for my special friend, or I would die of hypothermia.
In the mean time, while I await my dream-come-true (in heaven), you and I can dwell upon the following amusing links that I uncovered in my google searches.
The sound of hunting narwhals
(Why yes, I would love to own a plush narwhal)
Spear your own koala
The amazing story of how the narwhal got its tusk
The ferocious beast of the sea has the ultimate Zombie Defense
Link is self-explanatory
My 6 year old son and I are reading 20,000 Leages Under the Sea. We are just starting into chapter 4 and had to take a break to look up Narwhal. I am a biologist and have know of the narwhal all my life, but my boy was having a hard time imagining the creature realy exsisted. Thank you for this blog, cute narrative and fantastic photo. We are now redy to get back to the hunt for the huge Narwhal.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad that it was enjoyable and helpful! I'm happy to know that your son is getting to read such a classic story. Admittedly, I haven't tried any of my Jules Verne collection, but maybe now I'll get started on it when I finish The Lord of the Rings.
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