Featured Image Credit: Gretchen Freund via Smithsonian Insider
By: Sarah Sharkey
Narwhals are some of the most understudied animals on the planet. This stems from the fact that their environment is so harsh, making it difficult for researchers to study and understand them.
The current way that researchers are finding study specimens is by setting a whale sized net with a bright buoy just off a rocky beach and taking shifts to watch the buoy at all hours of the day. If there is a wiggle and pull that means there is a whale sized animal in the net and researchers race out to safely haul the narwhal into shallower waters.
The scientists work quickly to extract tissue and blood samples, measure it and tag it before releasing the mysterious creature back into the ocean. The data provided by these samples as well as the satellite tag information will hopefully help to unravel the many questions surrounding the whale.
The most asked question is what is the purpose of their tusk? The many theories include a weapon to stun fish, a temperature gauge or a way to break through ice. So far we just really don’t know, but hopefully someday soon the dedicated researchers will change that.
If you are interested in learning more about narwhals, you should check out the new narwhal exhibit at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.
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