Together, these two species comprise the only extant members of the family Monodontidae, sometimes referred to as the 'white whales'. The narwhal is most closely related to the beluga whale. The scientific name, Monodon monoceros, is derived from Greek: 'one-tooth one-horn'. Its name is derived from the Old Norse word nár, meaning 'corpse', in reference to the animal's greyish, mottled pigmentation, like that of a drowned sailor and its summertime habit of lying still at or near the surface of the sea (called 'logging'). The narwhal was one of many species originally described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. Illustration of a narwhal (lower image) and a beluga (upper image), its closest related species Narwhals have been harvested for hundreds of years by Inuit in northern Canada and Greenland for meat and ivory and a regulated subsistence hunt continues.

More recent estimates list higher populations (upwards of 170,000), thus lowering the status to 'least concern'. As previous estimates of the world narwhal population were below 50,000, narwhals are categorised by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as 'nearly threatened'. Other causes of death, specifically among young whales, are starvation and predation by orcas. Narwhals can live up to 50 years and are often killed by suffocation after being trapped due to the formation of sea ice. Narwhals, like most toothed whales, communicate with 'clicks', 'whistles' and 'knocks'. In the winter, the male narwhals occasionally dive up to 1,500 m (4,920 ft) in depth, with dives lasting up to 25 minutes. Each year, they migrate from bays into the ocean as summer comes. During the summer, narwhals eat mostly Arctic cod and Greenland halibut, with other fish such as polar cod making up the remainder of their diet. In winter, it feeds on benthic prey, mostly flatfish, under dense pack ice. Narwhals do not have a dorsal fin and their neck vertebrae are jointed like those of most other mammals, not fused as in dolphins and most whales.įound primarily in Canadian Arctic and Greenlandic and Russian waters, the narwhal is a uniquely specialised Arctic predator. At around 11 to 13 years old, the males become sexually mature females become sexually mature at about 5 to 8 years old. The average weight of an adult narwhal is 800 to 1,600 kg (1,760 to 3,530 lb). For both sexes, excluding the male's tusk, the total body size can range from 3.95 to 5.5 m (13 to 18 ft) the males are slightly larger than the females. Like the beluga, narwhals are medium-sized whales. The narwhal was one of many species described by Carl Linnaeus in his publication Systema Naturae in 1758.

The narwhal males are distinguished by a long, straight, helical tusk, which is an elongated upper left canine. It is one of two living species of whale in the family Monodontidae, along with the beluga whale. It lives year-round in the Arctic waters around Greenland, Canada and Russia. The narwhal, also known as a narwhale ( Monodon monoceros), is a medium-sized toothed whale that possesses a large ' tusk' from a protruding canine tooth. The frequent (solid) and rare (striped) occurrence of narwhal populations

Whale with horn