What purpose does the narwhal’s tusk serve?
You know, I was just at Sea World here in San Diego and wondered the same thing… For those of you wondering “What the hell is a narwhal?” it’s a type of whale with a unicorn like appendage on its snout.
I couldn’t find anything at the park, though my personal guess is that it is probably a secondary sexual feature of the animal that sexes use to judge each other. While I believe both sexes have the tusks, isn’t the males quite a bit larger? If so, the female may use it as a distinuishing factor in choosing a mate (“Oh baby, check out how long HIS tusk is…”)
Sources I’ve checked claim that the narwhal’s tusk, its only tooth, is used for “social” purposes. Sometimes that social purpose is fighting, other times it’s more fun.
Dominance fights amongst males seems to me to be the best explanation, but this site mentions several different theories (and the objections to each):[ul]
[li]poking breathing holes in ice (narwhals use their foreheads)[/li][li]weapon against predators (too fragile)[/li][li]herd prey or pry creatures from the bottom (beluga whales do it without a tusk)[/li][li]‘wave’ guides to help direct their vocalizations[/li][/ul]
From Leatherwood, S. et al. 1988. Whales, Dolphins, and Porpoises of the Eastern North Pacific and Adjacent Arctic Waters. Dover Publications. p. 138-139.
Further on the book mentions that the tusks may be used in adult male dominance contests.
This web page appears to confirm that suspicion.
This just helps show how long the dang thing is. I would really hate to have that sticking out of my lip. Face-to-face conversation would become extremely difficult.
It’s just nature’s way of saying
“There goes a narwhal! eeee-ooo-eeee-errr!”
When I did an exhibit on sea mammals (about 10 years ago), the consensus was nobody knows. Best guess was stirring up prey on the bottom, with a few votes for dominance rituals.
NARWHAL…the word alone makes me shudder.That was the name of the 637 class fast attack submarine I wasted the best years of my young life on!
A long time ago when I was doing geophysics in the Arctic, the sidescan sonar would show these anomalous disturbed patches on the seafloor. Eventually, they were found to caused by big whales stirring up the bottom trying to scare up some food. I vote that the narwhal tusk is used to stir up the bottom, especially as one of the cites stated that the tusks are frequently polished.
Another whale link:
http://www.whalenet.org/archives/ask98/0137.html
After you go through 2 pages of headers, I’m not kidding, you get to this: