In sum, the mysterious horn of the Narwhal is a sensor suite!
Mating tool, sure. But why does he need something that—
Background, with photo.
http://www.uscg.mil/d11/narwhal/narwhal.htm
This creates more mysteries than it clears up.
I grew up with a narwhal tusk adorning the length of our dining room wall, along with many other marine curios. That was such a source of wonder to me every day, at every meal.
Go on with it, Ma Nature, with every bit of exploration and adaption to sensitivity!
The NY Times had a great article Tuesday, with lotsa narwhaly photos.
What I wonder is why other marine mammals don’t have the tusk, if it’s so useful to the animal.
Same reason we don’t have built-in radar and infrared vision.
Note that the tusk is really a tooth, and as such is one of the only teeth in the animal kingdom to have soft parts on the outside.
I, for one, welcome our new Narwhal overlords.
Thanks for the links, Bosda! Fascinating stuff.
Didn’t narwalteeth, washed ashore, start the legend of the Unicorn?
Just like legends of mermaids were triggered by sea cows, (also known as dugongs or manatees) seen though the mists, sitting on rocks, their upper body upright, wailing mysteriously?
No, distorted travellers’ tales of the Rhino started the Unicorn myth.
That, & the tendency of early Greek naturalists to oversimplify in their texts.
Yes, distorted legends of the rhinocerous (monocerous) started the legends of the unicorn (monocorn). However, when narwhal teeth started showing up as medieval curiosities no one knew where they came from since they had passed through too many trading links from the northern narwhal hunters, so they were billed as unicorn horns. That’s why unicorns are traditionally depicted with spiral horns.
IIRC, Arabian unicorns have walrus tusk horns.
“The male narwhal sometimes **duel **in the summer feeding ground, crossing tusks in a friendly manner. Nobody knows why narwhals dual, it might be to “scratch an itch”, (the base of the tusk is usually infected with lice) or this tusk crossing might be a greeting, no one knows for sure.”
One of these things is not like the other one …
I would positively love to have a narwhal horn, but not at the expense of the animal…which pretty much makes my desire moot. It would make a kick-ass walking-stick/cane, though.
I have heard of a different origin for the unicorn (no idea if it’s more legitimate than what has been mentioned, but it’s interesting anyway): when goats are born, they have two small structures in their scalp that eventually grow both into and out of the skull to produce the horns. If, at a very young age–before the structures become fixed–the skin between them is cut out and the structures are squeezed together and bound, the goat will grow one horn in the center of its head, rather than two. There are a few people who believe that this was known and done by shepherds thousands of years ago, since goats were kept as guardians of sheep, and one solid horn was a more effective weapon for their natural head-butting behavior than two less solid ones. This, the people believe, is why unicorns are often depicted with goat-like characteristics: cloven hooves and beards.
(Source: Drawing Down the Moon by Margot Adler. The people? A couple going by the names of Otter and Morning Glory Zell, who have raised several goats with this modification. There’s even a picture of them with one of their “unicorns.”)
More news, & a far more detailed account.
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa003&articleID=0002569C-5144-139F-914483414B7F0000
A cruel trick of evolution, designed to keep us down?
Speak for yourself.
I’ve said too much.
Screw the expense of the animal, looks at the expense it’d cost you!