Why do narwhals tusk

Next up for the researchers is helping pinpoint critical narwhal calving areas, which may further aid plans to protect them. All rights reserved. Filmed near Nunavut, Canada, a narwhal can be seen tapping a fish with its tusk. The unicorn of the sea just got a little less mysterious. Share Tweet Email. Read This Next Wild parakeets have taken a liking to London. Animals Wild Cities Wild parakeets have taken a liking to London Love them or hate them, there's no denying their growing numbers have added an explosion of color to the city's streets.

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Meet the people trying to help. Animals Whales eat three times more than previously thought. Environment Planet Possible India bets its energy future on solar—in ways both small and big. Environment As the EU targets emissions cuts, this country has a coal problem. Writing in March in the journal Current Biology , scientists described what they found in 10 tusks collected from animals in northwest Greenland.

They found that between and , the mercury in the tusks increased by an average of 0. This is consistent with increased mercury discovered in the bodies of other top predators in several regions across the Arctic, possibly due to air pollution blowing in from the south. This corresponds to a dramatic decline in Arctic sea ice since the year Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that bioaccumulates in species as they ingest it over a lifetime.

When an organism at the bottom of the food chain consumes mercury, it collects in its tissues. Then something bigger eats that animal and its mercury, and so on up the food chain. Some top predators, like the polar bear, bioaccumulate a lot of mercury but can also expel it—the bears sequester it in their thick fur.

No such luck for the smooth-skinned narwhal. If these levels get high enough, they could have a negative effect for the species. Narwhals may use their tusks to detect temperature, water pressure, particle gradients, and motion. In addition, the tusk is flexible, capable of flexing about 30 centimeters 1 foot in all directions.

Because of the sensitivity to salinity concentrations in sea water, the male narwhal tusk may have the ability to read and navigate ice formation in Arctic waters. Contact: eloka nsidc. Skip to main content. About Narwhals Narwhals are whales that live exclusively in Arctic and sub-Arctic waters.