The narwhal (Monodon monoceros) is a species of toothed whale native to the Arctic. It is the only member of the genus Monodon and one of two living representatives of the family Monodontidae. The narwhal is a stocky cetacean with a relatively blunt snout, a large melon, and a shallow ridge in place of a dorsal fin.

Read the Inuit legend of the narwhal, as retold by an elder from Pond Inlet, Nunavut. Become immersed in the narwhal’s environment via breathtaking panoramic landscape images and a soundscape of shifting ice, flowing water, narwhal vocalizations, and Arctic birdcalls.

The long spiral tusk of the male narwhal is one of a pair of canine teeth positioned horizontally in the animal’s skull. They determined it was a canine and not an incisor because the tusk originates in the narwhal’s maxillary bone, where canine teeth in mammals originate.

2024年11月23日 · Even more spectacular is the skull preserved in the Zoological Museum of Hamburg, dating back to 1684: two enormous teeth in a specimen which is thought to be female, according to the stories of the seventeenth century, but DNA analyzes are underway to confirm it …

2024年9月28日 · Find out what one of the sea’s most unusual-looking mammals tell us about the future of our oceans. Visitors to the exhibition will marvel over the 16-foot fiberglass model of an adult male narwhal suspended from the ceiling.

A narwhal skull with double tusks, a rare trait in narwhals. Usually males have a single long tusk protruding from the incisor on the left side of the upper jaw. As toothed whales, comprising the suborder Odontoceti of the order Cetacea, the narwhal is characterized by the main bones of the upper jaw thrust upward and back over the eye sockets ...

2024年5月27日 · The narwhal is characterized by a prominent tusk on its skull, upturned flippers, and a dorsal ridge instead of a true fin on the back. Each dorsal ridge is entirely unique to the individual, which helps scientists identify them at a glance. …

2022年7月3日 · All narwhal tusks, or canine teeth, have a unique left-hand spiral, encased in cementum, and tissue seen exclusively around the base of a tooth stuck in bone. Scientists from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Harvard University, and other institutions have examined over 130 museum skulls.

2022年8月12日 · We present detailed morphological analyses of the skulls of the only known narwhal-beluga hybrid and corresponding parental species. The hybrid displays an unusual head morphology with beluga cranium characters and a narwhal mandible.

2022年8月12日 · Skull shape analyses allowed clear discrimination between species. Narwhals are characterised by a relatively short rostrum and wide neurocranium while belugas show a more elongated and narrower cranium.