Narwhal

Hello! You might know me as the unicorn of the sea, but my real name is narwhal. I am a type of whale that lives in the chilly waters of the Arctic Ocean. My home is a beautiful, icy world among the floating sea ice near places like Greenland and Canada. The first thing most creatures notice about me is my long, spiraled tusk that juts out from my head. It looks like something from a storybook, doesn't it? For a long time, people thought it was a magical horn, but it's not a horn at all. My amazing tusk is actually a tooth, a very long and special tooth that makes me one of the most unique animals in the entire ocean. It’s a part of who I am, and it helps me survive in my cold, arctic home.

My tusk is a super-sensor that helps me understand the world around me. It’s a canine tooth that grows right through my upper lip, and it can become incredibly long—sometimes up to 10 feet! Imagine having a tooth as long as a small car. But it’s not just for looks. My tusk is filled with millions of tiny nerve endings, which makes it extremely sensitive. I can feel things in the water with it. By pointing my tusk, I can detect small changes in the water’s temperature and even how salty it is. This incredible sense helps me find the best places to hunt for food and navigate through the dark, icy waters. Sometimes, when I meet another narwhal, we will gently rub our tusks together. Scientists call this activity ‘tusking,’ and it’s a special way we connect with each other in our pods.

I live my life with my family in a group called a pod. Together, we travel on long journeys every year, following the sea ice as it grows in the winter and melts in the summer. During the summer, like in the year 2023, you could find my pod swimming in shallow bays close to the coast, where the water is calmer. But when winter arrives, we travel to much deeper waters, far from land, where the ocean is covered in a thick sheet of ice. Living here requires a special skill: deep diving. I am an incredible diver and can swim down more than a mile into the dark depths of the ocean. It’s cold and dark down there, but it’s where I find my favorite meals, like tasty Greenland halibut and Arctic cod.

For many centuries, humans weren't even sure I was a real animal. My story was more like a myth. Back in the Middle Ages, around the 11th century, Viking explorers would sometimes find the tusks of my ancestors washed ashore. They would sell these tusks to people in other lands, telling them they were the horns of magical unicorns. It wasn't until the year 1758 that a scientist named Carl Linnaeus officially described me and gave me my scientific name, finally letting the world know that I was a real whale living in the Arctic. Now, in the 21st century, I face a new challenge. My beautiful, icy home is changing. Climate change is causing the sea ice I rely on to melt, which makes it harder for me and my pod to find food and shelter.

My story reminds you that I am a real, living wonder of the Arctic, not a creature from a fairy tale. My deep dives into the ocean are very important for my ecosystem because as I swim up and down, I help mix up nutrients in the water, which helps other sea life grow. I am a key part of my icy world, and my health is connected to the health of the ocean. My journey is a reminder of how many amazing and mysterious creatures live on our planet. Protecting my home in the Arctic helps protect the entire ocean for everyone.