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Duration:	13:44
Uploaded:	2026-01-05
Last sync:	2026-01-05 17:15

The narwhal puts a curious spin on what it means to be classified as a “toothed whale.” The males’ left canine grows out in a long counterclockwise spiral, straight through its face. This tusk is a giant, inside-out, bendy tooth that feels everything and almost exclusively grows in males. But what is it for?



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Sources:

https://www.clevelandart.org/articles/hunting-unicorn-horn-narwhal-tusks-medieval-monsters

https://www.narwhal.org/inuit-wisdom-the-narwhal

https://www.ifaw.org/animals/narwhals

https://archive.org/details/walkersmarinemam0000nowa/page/134/mode/2up

https://www.narwhal.org/narwhal-facts

https://www.adventurecanada.com/canadian-high-arctic-and-greenland/narwhals-mysterious-tusked-whales-of-the-arctic

https://web.archive.org/web/20130710194915/http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/Science/publications/uww-msm/pdf/narwhal-narval-eng.pdf

https://www.si.edu/stories/understanding-narwhals-smile

https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Monodon_monoceros/

https://nammco.no/narwhal/#1475762140594-0925dd6e-f6cc

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1748-7692.2010.00439.x

https://www.narwhal.org/narwhal-insights/ole-qvist-uummannaq

https://repository.si.edu/items/b884b7a5-a9e2-488b-9562-51f6a270eb5b

https://books.google.com/books/about/Handbook_of_Marine_Mammals_River_dolphin.html?id=q7LwAAAAMAAJ

https://archive.org/details/walkersmarinemam0000nowa/page/136/mode/2up

https://www.narwhal.org/about-dr-nweeia

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https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-animal-021122-112307

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https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/abs/10.1139/z78-079

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https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsbl.2019.0950

https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/drone-shot-video-may-have-just-solved-400-year-debate-over-what-narwhal-tusks-are-used-for

https://www.uwindsor.ca/dailynews/2017-05-15/video-captures-use-narwhals-singular-tusk

https://anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ar.22886

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1055790399907510?via%3Dihub

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02724634.2019.1645148

https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Delphinapterus_leucas/

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-35651-3_3

https://australian.museum/learn/animals/mammals/strap-toothed-whale/

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https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-44038-0

https://marinemammalscience.org/facts/monodon-monoceros/

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Images:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iTzICQGAu_yKnsxbWNMXGlYJnk2DzGMhGrY8wJvH8yg/edit?tab=t.0