The Narwhal’s Mysterious Tusk | National Geographic

a pot of narwhals comes bobbing into a
small bay created by a crack in Arctic
ice
narwhals are unique species of whale why
unique because narwhals have a horn that
can grow as long as nine feet it looks
kind of like a tusks and it’s actually
an overgrown tooth that grows to a hole
in the narwhals 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 narwhal is often travel in small
numbers but today with the rumor of
Arctic cod under these waters the
narwhals cod might swell to over a
hundred but they’re 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 way
in gold the entire pod has to bob up in
this tiny pool of water if the hole
closed over they’d have to swim under
the ice until they found air it’s
possible they wouldn’t before the lack
of oxygen children
then as suddenly as it closed the ice
moves again clearing away out of this
trap and they’re free free to resume
their hunts for shrimpy fish and squid
free to just free to do well whatever
else they do with that mysterious tusk