Video Solves Mystery of How Narwhals Use Their Tusks
Drone footage taken in the far northeastern regions of Canada finally sheds light on how narwhals use the massive tusks protruding from their heads.
MYSTERY BEHIND NARWHAL’S ICONIC TUSKS REVEALED: Video shows how narwhals use their iconic tusks to hunt fish. Filmed near Nunavut, Canada, a narwhal can be seen tapping a fish with its tusk.
The unicorn of the sea just got a little less mysterious.
Until now, how narwhals used their long tusks had been subject to much speculation by scientists.
Behavior captured for the first time on camera shows narwhals using the long tusks protruding from their heads to stun Arctic cod by hitting them, using jagged, quick movements. This behavior immobilizes the fish, making them easier to prey upon.
The footage was shot by two drones in Tremblay Sound, Nunavat, in Canada’s far Northeastern regions by Adam Ravetch for the World Wildlife Fund Canada and researchers from Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
Brandon Laforest, a senior specialist of Arctic species and ecosystems with WWF-Canada, explained why narwhals have been such a mysterious species.
‘They don’t jump like other whales. They are also notoriously skittish,” said Laforest. “This is an entirely new observation of how the tusk is used.’
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One Reply to “Video Solves Mystery of How Narwhals Use Their Tusks”
I always asked myself how they hunt or what is this thusk used for. Now I know and wow… Wild life is just awesome.
We have to preserve it.