Rare drone video of narwhals finally reveals how 'unicorns of the sea' use their tusks
Narwhal tusks are mostly found in males and can grow up to 10-feet long. The unusual feature is believed to play a role in mating competition, but new video has revealed other ways that narwhals use their tusks in the wild.
Drone video shows narwhals using tusks to hunt, steal food from competitors
Rarely seen footage of narwhals in the Canada's High Arctic sheds new light on how the "unicorns of the sea" use their massive tusks. The drone video was taken during research by the Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, and Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans in partnership with Inuit communities in Nunavut, Canada.
New video taken in the remote Canadian High Arctic sheds light on how narwhals use their famous spiral tusks, which are essentially long teeth, to hunt and play with their food.
Narwhal tusks are primarily found in males and can grow up to 10 feet long. The unusual feature has led to the animal's nickname of "unicorns of the sea" and is believed to play a role in mating competition. Now, drone video has revealed other ways that narwhals use their tusks in the wild.
Videos taken by a Canadian and American research team in partnership with Inuit communities in Nunavut, a region in northern Canada that is part of the Arctic Circle, show multiple narwhals in a group, known as a blessing, swimming and darting around fish.
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Marine researchers from Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute and Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans said the video shows interactions between narwhal, fish and birds, including attempts to steal food from glaucous gulls.
In the video, you can see narwhals swimming below the gulls, hunting for fish.
Handout photo: The Arctic's iconic narwhal.
(O’Corry-Crowe, FAU/Watt, DFO)
"Our observations provide clear evidence of narwhals chasing fish and using their tusks to interact directly with the fish and to influence the fish’s behavior," FAU research professor and National Geographic explorer Greg O’Corry-Crowe said. "Some of the interactions we saw appeared competitive in nature, with one whale blocking or trying to block another whale’s access to the same target fish, while others may have been more subtle, possibly communicative, and even affiliative. None appeared overtly aggressive."
Researchers with Florida Atlantic University said the video is a rare look at how the Arctic whale behaves in social situations, plays and adapts to changing environments.
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The video led to a new study published in the journal "Frontiers in Marine Science" this week. The authors said studying social whale behavior, such as the blessing seen in the drone video, can help show how species adapt to Arctic changes.