Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s previous World of Wonder columns for The Butter can be found here.
I’m so excited to talk about this animal, friends! But first: I should mention that my time here on The Butter is sadly coming to an end. I have just one more entry for the World of Wonder column at the end of the month. I’ll be on sabbatical at the small college where I teach, and that means I have to get cracking on some long-awaited book projects and ventures that have been simmering for far too long.
So with that in mind, I’ve thought long and hard about what my two last features here on WoW should be, and I’d never forgive myself if I didn’t share with you all one of my favorite sea creatures on this blue planet: the lovable and mysterious narwhal!
En garde!
These “unicorns of the sea” (as Jules Verne called them in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea) don’t have a dorsal fin, and they have vertebrae in their neck that allows them to do a whale of a double-take—the only other whale that shares these unique traits is the beluga. The males are about fifteen feet long and the females are about eleven feet long.
This is about how big an average narwhal is compared to a human. Careful, buddy—I wouldn’t get too close!
Narwhals are found mainly in the Arctic ocean, but occasionally you might find that a small pod of them have wandered into a Canadian fjord. But okay, can we talk about this “horn”? I mean…it’s actually the worst/funniest case of buck teeth ever. The narwhal “horn” is actually a tooth—a loooong, drawn-out tooth that pokes through the upper left “lip” (if narwhals had lips) of its mouth. Mostly males have this long-in-the-tooth situation, but some females have it as well, and some narwhals even have a double horn! No orthodontics magic can fix that affair.
The word narwhal comes from the old Norse word “nar,” which meant “like a corpse,” because of the distinctive mottled skin that made people think of [*shudder*] drowned sailors. And while I’m setting the groundwork for your nightmares tonight, let’s discuss narwhal eating habits, shall we? They eat cuttlefish, cod, and arm-hooked squid. Nothing too disturbing, right? But it’s the way they eat: a narwhal will swim up to its food very stealthy-like, slow and steady—and then open its mouth and inhale like the world’s scariest vacuum cleaner—and in one giant and powerful gulp, it will swallow the unsuspecting animal whole. Did I mention they like to swim UPSIDE-DOWN? Can you imagine seeing a narwhal sidle up to you, upside-down, and slowly start to open its mouth?
In spite of this, narwhals are classified as almost threatened—humans hunting them for their tooth and valuable fat supply is the main cause of their decline. Orcas and the occasional polar bear sometimes hunt baby narwhals, but not often. When orcas do hunt a pod of narwhals, the narwhals know they can’t outswim them, so they just dive dive dive—narwhals can survive to almost five thousand feet below sea level. And orcas can’t.
It’s dish time, Dear Readers—What is your oceanic “bucket list” animal? The one animal of the sea that you feel you just HAVE to see in person before you leave this earth? Let me know (with pictures!) in the comments below. The narwhal is pretty much it for me; I guess I’d better start saving my pennies for a trip to the Arctic, as I’m sure to never see them here on the shores of Lake Erie. Another favor: as I love, wear, collect all things narwhal, pls link to any narwhal-related items this “unicorn of the sea”-lover should know about! Till my next (and last, sob!) entry… En garde!
Tags: aimee nezhukumatathil, narwhals, nature, the butter, world of wonder
I actually made a very high pitched noise when I saw this because NARWHALS. Amazing and still pretty mysterious if I understand correctly.
I was also reminded of the excellent piece Smithsonian Magazine did about them, and about Kristin Laidre, who is one of the main narwhal researchers in the world. She also used to be a ballerina and I think this quote from the article is just beautiful:
“When you are a ballet dancer you learn how to suffer,” Laidre explains. “You learn to be in conditions that aren’t ideal, but you persist because you’re doing something you love and care about. I have a philosophy that science is art, that there is creativity involved, and devotion. You need artistry to be a scientist.”
omg
ha–my comment was cut off. I meant to say how much I loved that quote. so very very much! thank you!
Ha! Always happy to produce a reaction of that nature though!
Ballerina turned MARINE BIOLOGIST shut up this woman is every little girls dream, mine included, I am IN AWE and jealous? But in a good way.
And just today I found the art and education project she did with a painter: Imaging the Arctic: Communicating Climate Science through Art so, by comparison, I have basically done nothing with my life. 🙂
Have friends who crochet or knit? You’re probably going to want one of these… http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/narwhal-u… http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/amigurumi…
Also these narwhal mittens. I don’t have the patience for intarsia but I’m sure others do!
I think you could knit them stranded. Intarsia probably isn’t called for here unless you’re into it.
I also love this creature and didn’t know it was real until I came upon it at the Harvard Museum of Natural History last summer. Usually it works the other way–we realize something mythological isn’t real, but it was so amazing to have it go the other way. Here’s a Harvard museum narwhal link: http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2014/03/sec…
I have always, always wanted to see a whale shark in person. They’re so big and spotty and their faces are basically the :O emoticon come to life. I think the Atlanta aquarium (if I remember correctly) has some, so maybe it’s time to plan a trip down South.
I also love sunfish, but I’ve seen them in person before (but not for a while!).
They do! There were at least two of them when I was there seven-ish years ago. The aquarium has this MASSIVE tank, about the size of a football field, with viewing set up on one end. There’s so much water that you can’t actually see through to the other side. And then these enormous, gorgeous, graceful, goofy looking sharks come swimming up out of the murk towards you. Sitting in front of that tank for an hour and watching them come and go is one of my favorite teenaged memories.
I lived there 10+ years ago and I think there was only one at that time. It was freaking gigantic. I can’t believe they have more now! That aquarium is incredible.
The sad part was the Belugas. They were in a smaller tank. I hated seeing them in captivity. They were so beautiful.
yeah, aquariums have to be GINORMOUS to house whale sharks and apparently the Georgia Aquarium is the only one in the US big enough! which is kind of awesome. the viewing window is like a friggin Imax screen, it’s super cool.
Also they have belugas and otters and rays and japanese spider crabs! I gotta get back to Atlanta one day to visit again
When I was a kid I found out that my father had extensive whale sharking experience. (Which I guess means he saw and/or swam with them once or twice somewhere in the Pacific.) I was so jealous -and angry about the fact that they apparently would not be coming to visit me on the Jersey shore- that I didn’t speak to him for at least a few hours. At least.
awww I am sad this segment is going away but thanks for everything and I hope your sabbatical is super productive!
As for ocean bucket list I would love to see any deep-sea animal alive and in action but if I had to choose one it would be any of the deep sea anglerfish species because they are glorious (but also a barreleye fish because WHAT HOW).
100% agreed, I think deep-sea animals are just the MOST fascinating! I would much rather hang out with deep sea creatures than aliens. I especially love the species that scientists are not totally convinced exist at all/anymore but probably do, deep down in the blackness of the Marianas Trench.
which particular species do you mean? (or do you mean more in general, as an abstract idea?)
I’m going to miss this feature; it was one of my favorites. I hope you consider coming back after the sabbatical’s over!
not so excited about the nightmares this post is going to give me though
So freaking cool.
I’m going to take your closing question as an opportunity to brag about one of the most incredible experiences I’ve had. I was on a shoestring vacation with a dear friend in the San Juan Islands, where she knew a guy who was working that summer as a kayak guide. After hours one early evening he loaned us a couple of kayaks and she and I went out in the water around the island. All of a sudden a pod of orcas started breaching around us. We had one breach not 30 feet away. A mother and baby also surfaced a little farther off. It was amazing how in sync they were; it was like they were two fingers on the same hand. We just sat there with our mouths hanging open. It was exhilarating.
It’s a little late for BBQ season, but there are always these narwhal BBQ skewers
Those are adorable!
tbqh there are 2 marine creatures that fascinate me beyond anything else and they are:
1. manatees (I have seen soooo many in my life, though, because I grew up on a river in Florida)
2. seahorses (only seen these in tanks)
Poseidon’s Steed is something I read about 5 years ago and have been hooked on seahorses** and also appalled by ocean-farming ever since. Seashorses are ultra-cool y’all. And (as of 5 years ago) they were still super mysterious! like they thought that this day-glo orange one near England was a new species because the only way to tell them apart usually is their coloration BUT IT TURNS OUT it was just mimicking the color of the buoys, like octopuses and cuttlefish do.
**but not kitschy home decor seahorses like my mom collects because no. i loathe that faux beachy theme decor. only ALIVE ones for me and preferably without stupid aphorisms and heavy-handed religious clichés okay
Great whites for me. I would love to go cage diving.
I went whalewatching in Iceland and that ws just incredible, the company’s website had footage from our trip for years afterwards describing it as the best trip ever. We saw loads of humpbacks, minkes and dolphins – this dude practically came up under the boat and hung around for about an hour.
I kind of want to see a sea snake, but at the same time I kind of don’t because, hello, it’s a sea snake.
On a related note: did anyone else see the BBC series about Japan that featured the two women who catch them at night, in the dark, with their bare hands? I still can’t get over that.
I saw that! Those ladies were awesome.
Aimee! Good luck on your sabbatical! WoW has always been such a delightful little column, so I’m sad to see it go.
My bucket list marine animal is… a tie! I have always loved orcas, so I would absolutely jump at the chance to take a whale watching trip and see some. I would especially love to see some hunting, since they are crazy smart and have all sorts of tricks for catching their prey. My other bucket list is to see some giant turtles out in the wild, since I think they are majestic and probably have a good sense of humor about being ogled.
Turtles are fab. I had an underwater camera when I went to the Galapagos! They swam along with us while we all went OOOOH as we swam by the boat.
Whales are so damn cool but also so damn scary. To think that some of them could just knock you to your death with a flick of their fin! (Also: whale-related nautical disasters are among my favorite parts of history. In the Heart of the Sea, anybody??)
My ocean bucket list would probably be a great white shark, but only with me securely in a cage where I won’t be accidentally chomped in half. And though I have seen otters in an aquarium I would love to pet one someday, or at least hold an otter’s tiny hand.
A hearty YES. Very obsessed with whales and Moby Dick right now.
The posts in this series have always been so interesting and full of enthusiasm; thank you for writing them! Enjoy your sabbatical.
I recently broke my internet shopping moratorium to buy a narwhal christmas sweater t-shirt. No regrets. http://narwhalish.com/shop/narwhal-christmas-swea…
Time for Conversational Norwegian with Freakazoid! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQvVVsq6vYY
They got a kick-ass facial horn!
They stop Cthulhu eatin’ ye!
OH GOODNESS I need that.