Narwhals | National Geographic

a pot of narwhals comes bobbing into a
small bay created by a crack in Arctic
ice narwhals are unique species away
why unique because narwhals have a foot
that can grow as long as nine feet it
looks kind of like a tusk and it’s
actually an overgrown tooth that grows
to a hole in our walls upper lip no one
knows why they have this tusk they use
it for jousting but it doesn’t seem to
serve any evolutionary purpose the
narwhals often travel in small numbers
but today with a rumor of Arctic cod
under these waters the narwhals cod
might swell to over a hundred
taking a big risk the ice is still
shifting here and they could get hemmed
in in fact that’s exactly what happens
without warning their access to the open
sea closes off the narwhals are trapped
here you can get a good look at that
tusk a tusk that was sold by hunters
centuries ago as a unicorn horn
for ten times its weight in the gold the
entire pond has now bottom is tiny full
of water if the hole closed over they
have to swim under the ice until they
found air
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it’s possible they would before the lack
of oxygen
then as suddenly as it closed the ice
moves again clearing away out of this
trap and they’re free
free to resume their hunt for shrimp
fish and squid free to joust free to do
well whatever else they do with that
mysterious husk