The sun shines both day and night during a North Pole summer. Under its blinding brightness, in coastal water still too chilly for any human to swim comfortably, a bluish-gray narwhal follows his mother. Born in June, the calf will remain with his mother for almost two years. Faithfully she will give milk, like her fellow mammals, until the little narwhal learns to hunt fish, shrimp, and squid for himself. After autumn begins, the mother narwhal will lead her offspring from the shallow waters to the deeper depths of the Arctic Ocean.
Narwhals are one of three whale species that spend the whole year, even the sunless, sub-zero winter, in the Arctic. Since the sea freezes solid near land, narwhals migrate to where the ice is extremely thick but has cracks in it. These breaks provide oxygen. Rising to the surface, narwhals spout water before deeply inhaling air through the single blowhole atop their heads. Incredibly, they hold their breath for up to twenty-five minutes while they dive as far as a mile (1.6 km) into the dark, frigid ocean.
Surrounded by the Arctic’s sable waters, the narwhal calf could easily become separated from his mother if it were not for echolocation. Noises bounce off the narwhal’s melon, a fatty lump on his forehead, allowing him to form a sound picture of his dark environment. Keenly he detects the clicks, squeals, trills, and whistles of other narwhals. Because the calf and his mother travel in a pod, at least a dozen companions (possibly a hundred or more) ensure the young, inexperienced narwhal does not wander.
In time, the calf matures. Eventually he might reach 18 feet (5.5 m) in length and 3,000-4,000 pounds (1400-1800 kg) in weight. His gigantic body, warmly insulated by blubber beneath his skin, becomes darker and spotted. If he outlives the average human, the narwhal will turn completely white.
As an adult, the narwhal’s most notable feature is his masculine tusk—females rarely have one. Resembling the fabled unicorn’s horn, the straight-pointing, twisted tusk is actually one of the narwhal’s two teeth. After calfhood, his left incisor pierces through his top lip and extends up to 10 feet (3 m).
Possibly the purpose of the tusk is defense. Maybe it attracts a mate. Or perhaps it is for fencing. Because of natural difficulties in studying narwhals, researchers are uncertain of the tusk’s exact utility. They have observed a narwhal seemingly “stun” his prey with his projecting tooth before ingesting the unfortunate seafood. The narwhal takes care not to break its tooth, which will not grow back, on the hidden ocean floor.
Regardless of why the narwhal is the only whale to which God gave a tusk, the North Pole would not be the same without it.