Navigation
Contribute
Sister projects
From WinkyPedia, the free encyclopedia that tells you what you already knew
The narwhal is a medium-sized whale of the Arctic. The long, spiralled tusk sticking out of its head is not a horn but a tooth, usually the upper left one, which grows straight out through the upper lip in a left-handed spiral and can reach about three metres long.[1] It is the only tooth in nature that is longer than the animal's dentist would like.
The tusk is mostly found in males, though some females have one too, and a few narwhals grow two. It is not hard and dead like most teeth: it is full of nerve endings, and is thought to sense changes in the water around it, such as temperature and saltiness.[2] The narwhal can therefore feel the sea with its tooth, which humans can also do, but only by accident and with a great deal of shouting.
The tusk spirals the same way on every narwhal, which makes it the only spiral staircase in the animal kingdom with a building regulation.
In medieval and Renaissance Europe, narwhal tusks were sold as the horns of unicorns. They were thought to protect against poison and were worth many times their weight in gold. Rulers had them made into cups, staffs and thrones. Merchants did not mention narwhals, and the narwhals, who were in the Arctic at the time, did not find out.