The ever elusive Narwhals in the Canadian Arctic, where it's home to ~90% of the population. Photo taken by Paul Nicklen

Image from preview.redd.it and submitted by incubateshovels
image showing The ever elusive Narwhals in the Canadian Arctic, where it's home to ~90% of the population. Photo taken by Paul Nicklen

theDogoftheMoon on December 9th, 2018 at 05:04 UTC »

You ever think about how crazy those horns look? Edit: apparently its a tooth.

Sumit316 on December 9th, 2018 at 06:51 UTC »

It has interesting Etymology

"The narwhal was one of the many species originally described by Linnaeus in his Systema Naturae. Its name is derived from the Old Norse word nár, meaning "corpse", in reference to the animal's greyish, mottled pigmentation, like that of a drowned sailor and its summer-time habit of lying still at or near the surface of the sea (called "logging"). The scientific name, Monodon monoceros, is derived from the Greek: "one-tooth one-horn"."

"Narwhals can live up to 50 years. They are often killed by suffocation when the sea ice freezes over. Other causes of death, specifically among young whales, are starvation and predation by orcas. As previous estimates of the world narwhal population were below 50,000, narwhals are categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as Nearly Threatened. More recent estimates list higher populations (upwards of 170,000), thus lowering the status to Least Concern."

Fun Fact - In the 16th century Queen Elizabeth received a narwhal tusk as a gift. It's now part of the Crown Jewels and is officially named The Horn of Windsor.

jish92 on December 9th, 2018 at 07:07 UTC »

I wonder if they ever accidentally stab each other?