Narwhal

Its name is derived from the Old Norse word nár, which means "corpse" and refers to the animal's summertime habit of lying still at or near the surface of the sea (known as "logging") and its greyish, mottled pigmentation, which resembles that of a drowned sailor; and hval, which means "whale", is the source from Old Norse as "corpse-whale". The Greek phrase "one-tooth one-horn" is the source of the scientific name Monodon monoceros.

Physical Appearance

Narwhals are medium-sized whales, similar to belugas. The total body size for both sexes can range from 3.95 to 5.5 m (13.0 to 18.0 ft), excluding the male's tusk; the males are marginally larger than the females. An adult narwhal weighs, on average, between 800 and 1,600 kg (2,760 and 3,530 lb). Males reach sexual maturity around the age of 11 to 13 while females do so around the age of 5 to 8. In addition to lacking a dorsal fin, narwhals have jointed neck vertebrae rather than fused ones like dolphins and the majority of whales. The narwhal males are distinguished by a long, straight, helical tusk, which is an elongated upper left canine.

They are sexually dimorphic whales. The narwhal tusk, which is most frequently found on males, is actually an enlarged tooth that has up to 10 million nerve endings inside and sensory capabilities. While others have none, some narwhals have up to two tusks. The spiraled tusk can extend up to ten feet from the head alone.

Abilities

For a very long time, scientists believed that the tusk was used for combat or as a physical sign of male dominance to draw in females. Additionally, some scientists have proposed that narwhals may use their tusks to pierce sea ice or ward off other predators like polar bears and orca whales.

Ecology

The narwhal is a highly specialized Arctic predator that is primarily found in the Canadian Arctic, Greenlandic waters, and Russian waters. Under thick pack ice, it consumes primarily flatfish as benthic prey during the winter. Narwhals primarily consume Arctic cod and Greenland halibut during the summer, with other fish like polar cod making up the rest of their diet. As summer approaches, they move from bays into the ocean every year. The male narwhals occasionally make dives in the winter that can last up to 25 minutes and reach a depth of 1,500 m (4,920 ft). Like the majority of toothed whales, narwhals use "clicks," "whistles," and "knocks" to communicate.

In reality, the tusk on a narwhal is one of two teeth. The tusk emerges from the upper, left lip in males. The male narwhal in the image below is an exception to the rule that most of them have just one tusk.

In the winter, Narwhals feed intensively at the sea floor but some subpopulations may also feed on pelagic prey. A major portion of the annual energy intake is obtained during the winter. Although there seems to be relatively little feeding activity during the summer, Narwhals apparently feed opportunistically during this time. Narwhal sighting probability in winter in habitats with <50% open water is significantly higher than sighting probability in habitats with >50% open water, suggesting that the animals select for optimal foraging areas in dense pack ice regardless of the availability of open water. In the autumn and winter Narwhals are vulnerable to ice entrapments, or sassats, when rapidly changing conditions cause open-water areas used by the whales to freeze over and trap them, sometimes leading to suffocation.

Behavior

Narwhals, though, might not be as dangerous as you might believe. Humans are not seriously threatened by narwhals. There are no modern records of narwhal encounters resulting in human casualties.

Distribution and Habitat

Each summer, narwhals spend about two months in the ice-free bays and fjords of the Canadian Arctic, eastern Baffin Island, western and eastern Greenland, and Svalbard. They may gather at tidewater glacier fronts in some areas of this range during the summer. In the autumn, narwhals move along the fast-forming ice to their wintering grounds, which are typically deep, offshore habitats on the continental slope. Narwhals are well adapted to winter environments with little open water. Few other cetaceans frequent areas with such heavy sea ice cover, and narwhals exhibit remarkable site loyalty to these regions.

The world's 12 subpopulations of narwhals differ in their levels of genetic differentiation and geographic isolation (the terms subpopulation and stock are used interchangeably in the following). The total number of subpopulations is not known with precision because of insufficient sampling in some regions of the range, particularly in Russia. Two stocks of narwhal were recognized by the International Whaling Commission's (IWC) Scientific Committee in 1999, but it was noted that there were likely more that had not yet been identified. Vagrants have been recorded at Newfoundland, the British Isles, Germany, and the Netherlands in the east, and in the Chukchi and Bering seas as far south as the Alaska Peninsula and Commander Islands.

Appendix I: International trade banned and Endangered migratory species
Movement Pattern: Full Migrant
Individual Type: Group
Population Trend: Increasing
Population: 123,000
Locomotion: Aquatic
Habitat: all
Earth:
- Extant (resident): Canada; Greenland; Russian Federation; Svalbard and Jan Mayen
- Extant & Vagrant (seasonality uncertain): Canada (Newfoundland Islands); Germany; Iceland; Netherlands; Norway; United Kingdom; United States
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Tamed

You must abide by two rules in order to tame the animal. The first is to continue giving the narwhal food. The second is to get rid of or divert attention from the nearby animals. Using a swift water mount to maintain your proximity to the narwhal while supplying it with meat, clams, or squids would be beneficial.

Lore

Bereshit - 300,000-70,000 BCE

Project Pashneia, a scientific initiative by the Terran branch of Aesirs or Deities to create or alter all creatures, including humans and recent animals, was where Eostre modified the narwhal. The Aurorium neurotransmitters, which were located deep within the narwhal brain, were a system of receptors created especially to react to certain Terran Ancient Artifacts or Pieces of Eden made of adamantium that were in charge of influencing emotions, thoughts, behavior, and adding or enhancing magical abilities.

According to Inuit folklore, the narwhal's tusk was made when a woman was dragged into the water after being struck by a large narwhal with a harpoon and having a rope tied around her waist. She changed into a narwhal by Mikhael's actions, and the twisted knot in her hair that she was wearing took on the shape of a narwhal's distinctive spiral tusk. Some people in medieval Europe thought narwhal tusks were the mythical unicorn's horns. Vikings and other northern traders were able to sell these horns for many times their weight in gold because they were thought to possess magical properties, including the ability to neutralize poison and treat melancholy.

Wrong Spelling - 1851 AD

In a section on the narwhal (spelled "narwhale") in his 1851 book Moby-Dick, Herman Melville asserts that a narwhal tusk hung in Windsor Castle for "a long period" after Sir Martin Frobisher gave it to Queen Elizabeth. He also asserted that the thrones of the Danish kings were constructed from narwhal tusks.