Narwhal Facts

About the narwhal

That tusk measures 1.5 to 3.0 m and may work as a display, a weapon, a feeding tool or a sense organ. Narwhals are stocky, with a blunt snout, a big melon and a low ridge where a dorsal fin would be. They live in Arctic waters off Canada, Greenland and Russia, and each year they move to ice-free summer grounds, often coming back to the same spots.

Dives reach 2,370 m, among the deepest of any whale or dolphin. Meals include Greenland halibut, Arctic and polar cod, shrimp, cuttlefish and armhook squid. Groups usually hold three to eight animals, though up to 1,000 may gather in summer. Mating happens between March and May out in the offshore pack ice, and calves arrive in July or August of the next year. Clicks, whistles and knocks carry their messages.

Did you know?

• There are an estimated 170,000 narwhals living today.
• Narwhals and beluga whales are close relatives and can interbreed.
• No other living species shares the genus Monodon with the narwhal.