Animal narwhal: description of the sea unicorn and its habitat. Narwhal (a real, really existing aquatic Unicorn) - an animal of the Arctic deserts: video, description of the life of a Narwhal The majestic narwhal

The size of an adult male often reaches 4.5 meters, weighing about one and a half tons. Females weigh slightly less. The head of an adult narwhal is round, with a large, tuberous forehead, and there is no dorsal fin. Narwhals are somewhat reminiscent of beluga whales, although compared to the latter, the animals have somewhat spotted skin and 2 upper teeth, one of which, growing, turns into a three-meter tusk weighing up to ten kg.

Narwhal and beluga whale belong to the same subfamily Narwhalidae. Unlike dolphins, they do not have dorsal fin, but only a low ridge on the back. Like many other marine mammals, narwhals live in herds. All members of the narwhal herd usually breathe through a hole punched in the ice.

WHAT DOES IT EAT?

Unlike the beluga whale, which hunts in shallow waters, the narwhal feeds in the Arctic depths. It preys mainly on cod, halibut and flounder, as well as shrimp, small cuttlefish and crabs. The narwhal has keen hearing. When hunting, he uses echolocation. As well as bat, the narwhal sends into the space around itself sound signals, which, having encountered an obstacle, return back. Using this echo, the narwhal accurately determines the location, size and direction of movement of the object. When diving for prey, the narwhal is capable of descending to a depth of 370 m, and it can remain under water for up to 15 minutes, after which it marine mammal must rise to the surface and breathe air.

The movably connected vertebral discs give flexibility to the narwhal's skeleton and make the animal an agile hunter. In addition to the long spiral twisted tusk, in males another smaller tusk grows from the upper jaw, covered with a lip. The large tooth in females usually grows into the jawbone. The narwhal cannot bite the victim - it grabs it with its jaws and swallows it whole. Therefore, this animal hunts prey of a certain size.

LIFESTYLE

Narwhals live in herds, the largest of which number up to 2,000 animals. Mostly they are found in related groups, but there are also herds in which animals are grouped according to gender and age. Males of the same age usually gather in groups of 8-10 animals. Narwhals are friendly marine animals. They can often be observed in the fjords along with their relatives - beluga whales. It's also interesting to watch the narwhal dozing on the surface ice water. The narwhal uses its convex forehead to make a hole in the ice (a hole), to which it returns from time to time if the ice crust is too thick for it in other places. A narwhal can stay underwater for fifteen minutes. In the fall, when the Arctic waters are frozen, narwhals swim south in large herds, where they spend the winter.

REPRODUCTION

Narwhals breed in the spring, from March to May. The dominant male assembles a harem and mates with several females. Over 14-15 months, usually in mid-July, the female gives birth to one cub. The pause between births in these animals is 3 years - during this time the female takes care of her baby. Big break between births and a small number of newborns is a serious obstacle to the survival of the species. The cub leaves the mother's womb with its tail first. Immediately after this, the female pushes him to the surface with her nose so that his lungs are filled with air for the first time. The length of a baby narwhal is 1.5 m, weight is about 80-90 kg. It has gray-blue skin. With age, a black and white pattern appears on the skin, which is called “salt and pepper.” The mother gradually accustoms the child to independence, leaving him alone when she swims in search of prey. One-year-old males begin to grow a tusk, which grows surprisingly quickly.

GENERAL PROVISIONS

The narwhal is a speckled brownish whale. It is also called the sea unicorn. The length of these rare whales reaches 6 meters. They live in the waters of the Arctic and North Antarctica, along the edge of the ice in the open sea.

They live in herds. They feed on squid, flounder and other fish. One cub is born every 2-3 years. Males are decorated with a tusk twisted like a screw, up to 3 meters long. This is a huge tooth that has grown through upper lip. During mating games, males “fence” with this weapon.

INTERESTING INFORMATION. DID YOU KNOW THAT...

• In the Middle Ages, people believed that the narwhal's tusk was the horn of a unicorn and attributed miraculous powers to it. medicinal properties. Queen Elizabeth II of England kept the narwhal horn as a valuable relic.
• Some male narwhals (unicorns) have two tusks, the spirals on which have one direction - twist to the left. The length of the tusk can reach 3 meters. It is visible from under the upper lip and is growing all the time. Sometimes such a tusk grows in female narwhals.
• Along with the narwhal, the beluga whale belongs to the narwhal subfamily - also the only species of the genus.
• The Old Norse word "rod" means "corpse". The narwhal, or "corpse whale," was so named because the mottled coloration of the older animals was similar to that of a corpse.

CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF THE NARWHAL

Body: The streamlined shape is ideal for fast swimming. The back is covered with numerous black spots, the belly is white. The ends are about rounded pectoral fins(modified forelimbs) bend upward with age. The dorsal fin is low.

Male tusk: its purpose is unknown. Perhaps the narwhal uses it as a weapon while defending its territory.

Young: has a dark gray-blue color.

- Habitat of the narwhal

WHERE DOES HE LIVE?

The narwhal animal lives in Arctic and subarctic waters, under an ice crust or drifting ice, off the coast of Alaska, Canada, Greenland and Spitsbergen.

PROTECTION AND PRESERVATION

Poachers and sea pollution pose a threat to narwhals. The narwhal population ranges from 25,000 to 30,000 animals, of which approximately half live off the northwestern coast of Greenland.

#12 Narwhal Unicorn - narval Stories Northern. Video (00:01:47)

Unicorns are not fairy creatures, this is reality. Narwhals were called unicorns - mammals of the unicorn family, the only species of the narwhal genus. Narwhals are very beautiful and powerful animals. Adult males reach a length of 3.5-4.5 m and weigh about 1.5 tons. Females are smaller than males: their length is about 3 m, weight - 900 kg. A third of their mass is subcutaneous fat. In the wild, narwhals can live up to 55 years, but in captivity they die after 3-4 months.

An inhabitant of the Arctic seas with the scientific name Monodon Linnaeus - Unicorn. This is the rarest whale in the world - mysterious creature ocean.

The narwhal has a large horn, a tusk, which makes the whale unique and special. In the male, the tooth turns into a spiral-twisted tusk (2-3 m long and weighing up to 10 kg).

The narwhal tusk is strong and flexible (can bend in any direction without breaking).

The remaining teeth in males and females do not develop into tusks (hidden in the gums). Broken tusks do not grow back, and the tooth canal of the lost tusk is closed with a bone filling.

None of the cetaceans (or mammals in the whole world) have anything like this.

Narwhal facts

The Narwhal population worldwide is only 45,000 - 30,000 individuals. There are no exact data. The animals are rare (monotypic species), their numbers are very small.

Narwhal loves to eat cephalopods, squid, shrimp, bottom fish (usually cod, stingrays, halibut, flounder, gobies).

A similar animal with a similar diet is Humpback Whales.

To meet a narwhal, you need to go to the waters of the Russian Arctic or to Atlantic Ocean. The animals have a habit of traveling around eastern Russia and off the coast of Greenland.

Narwhal is a slow animal. Most scientists agree that narwhals are slow-moving animals. But they can sail on high speed if they feel threatened by predators. The animals can dive to depths of 1.5 km (5,000 ft).

IN winter months Narwhals live under thick ice. When the summer season comes, they move towards the shore.

A group of narwhals is usually 6-10 individuals with cubs. Narwhals gather in large herds of 100-150 animals during the migration period.

Narwhals are social animals. They do not like loneliness: they travel in groups and are very talkative.

They communicate using sounds, just as beluga whales do.

When narwhals communicate with other group members, they will use Various types sounds. It can be whistling, trills, sighs, mooing, clicks, squeaks, gurgling.

The narwhal cleans its tusk by crossing with the tusks of other members of the group. This is a sign of teeth cleaning, friendly contact or a duel.

The mating season starts from March to May. The gestation period is 16 months. A female Narwhal produces 1 calf per litter. When a calf is born, it has Brown color bodies. The female gives birth to a calf every three years.

Lifespan of a narwhal whale natural nature- 55 years; and in captivity - 4 months. There are no known cases of narwhal breeding in captivity. This indicates that the narwhal does not accept restrictions on its freedom (it dies in captivity). It cannot be kept or bred in an aquarium or a marine farm.

The main hunters whale narwhal are killer whales and polar bears. Arctic sharks prey on baby narwhals. Man also loves to hunt narwhal.

The narwhal population is declining not only due to predators, but also due to climate change and pollution environment. They are vulnerable because food becomes limited.

The main mystery of narwhals remains their horn, their tusk. It has not been possible to establish exactly what its main function is.

One of the most latest versions that it is a sensory organ, a kind of locator. Perhaps, with its help, the animal evaluates the characteristics of water - temperature, flow speed, presence of suspended particles.

Sea unicorns keep their secrets well. And artists all over the world never tire of being inspired by their mysterious and unusual appearance.

Narwhal is a marine animal of the narwhal family. Belongs to one of the species of whales.

Narwhal - amazing representative cetaceans

Appearance

The length of this animal is 4.5 meters in an adult, and 1.5 meters in a cub. The weight of males reaches 1.5 tons, of which more than half of the weight is fat. The females of these animals weigh a little less, 900 kilograms. with their own external similarities, these animals are similar to beluga whales.

Why does a narwhal need a horn?

Often, this part of the body is called a horn, but in fact, it is a tusk, which is 2-3 meters long and weighs about 10 kilograms. These tusks in both females and males are quite strong and have characteristic feature bend in any direction, up to thirty centimeters in length and without breaking.

So why does the narwhal have this tusk?

Until now, the functions of the tusk have not been studied, but scientists know for certain that it is not intended for attacking prey or breaking through ice crusts. A version was voiced that this animal needs it to carry out mating games and attract a female.

This is due to the fact that narwhals constantly rub themselves with these tusks. But later, in 2005, a special expedition that observed the life of narwhals came to the conclusion that this tusk turns out to be a very sensitive organ. Upon careful study, many different nerve endings were discovered on its surface. So it was suggested that the tusk also serves to determine temperature and electromagnetic frequencies.

Where do narwhals live?

These massive animals live in harsh climates. Namely, in the Arctic. They feed on various mollusks and fish. They prefer exclusively bottom fish such as cod, halibut, flounder and gobies. The enemies of these fearless-looking animals are and.

The meat of these animals is consumed in various northern peoples. They use fat as a means for a lamp. While the intestines are used to make various ropes. And this mysterious horn, or tusk, from which many crafts are made, is especially valued.

Narwhals are long-lived

These animals live about 55 years, but in captivity they cannot live even six months. The narwhal can be considered one of the most amazing animals that belongs to the cetacean family. As numerous observations of these animals show, females live longer than males.

Legends and beliefs about these animals

In ancient times, many people were already familiar with the narwhal, and among them it bore the name “sea unicorn.” Magicians and sorcerers attributed magical properties to narwhal tusks and added them to their potions. For a long time it was used as a ritual attribute.

Healers claimed that a decoction of ground tusk could cure any disease. These animals were constantly hunted; their tusks were exchanged for food, and sometimes even for gold. In the mid-twentieth century, narwhal hunting was banned, but this ban was not effective. Tracking the poachers was not so easy. Large territory and the impassable terrain prevented this.

As a result, this issue was never resolved. The same northern peoples make their homes from the skin of this animal. They say that narwhal fat helps with cold and prevents the body from freezing if you spread it on it.

They are going to hunt this beast the whole family. One person places special baits, while the other attracts the animal with characteristic sounds. This is usually done in places where there is a hole.

As soon as the animal appears on the surface of the water, they beat it with sharp objects and wait until it dies. After this, the whole family begins to pull him out of the water. As a rule, they are butchered there, since the weight of the narwhal does not allow them to carry it away entirely.

Polynya - an opportunity to breathe

On the one hand, this is, of course, barbarism, and on the other, these people, deprived of another type of food, will simply die without this animal. To date, the population of these animals is not in danger.

For more than six months, winter reigns in the Arctic with hurricanes, snowstorms, and severe cold. Frost freezes rivers, lakes, and seas with ice. A cold of 20-40, or even 50 degrees is no joke. Many believe that Northern Arctic Ocean freezes completely from the shores of Asia through the pole to America itself.

Scientists used to think so. In fact, even at the most harsh winter In the center of the Arctic there are always ice-free polynyas. From year to year they stay in the same places. Some of them received their own special names.

In 1909, the Greenland Polynya nearly caused Robert Peary to abandon his hope of reaching North Pole and go back. All subsequent expeditions always found wormwood in the same place.

One of the largest, the Great Siberian Polynya, is located near the New Siberian Islands. It was she who did not allow some expeditions to penetrate into the heart of the Arctic, and the legendary Sannikov Land excited the imagination of polar explorers for more than a quarter of a century. There are permanent polynyas off the eastern shores of the Taimyr Peninsula, near Novaya Zemlya and Franz Josef Land.

The chain of areas of non-freezing water, uniting permanent polynyas, is called the Arctic ring of life. It is here, and not at all to the tropics, that guillemots, guillemots, many gulls and other Arctic seabirds flock for the winter.

Seals and seals, polar bears stay here all winter, and arctic foxes also come here from the mainland. These polynyas are the ancestral patrimony of the amazing northern whale - narwhal, or unicorn(Monodon monoceros).

The largest male narwhals are just over 6 meters and weigh approximately a ton. Females are smaller. On the sides of the round foreheaded head are small eyes. The narwhal does not have the usual dolphin “beak”. The lower part of the body is light, the upper part is darker, especially the head. Grayish-brown spots of different sizes are randomly scattered along the back and sides.

The narwhal owes its high popularity to its horn. In the Middle Ages, it was often presented as the horn of a mythical unicorn horse, which had magical properties. The narwhal tusk was the main "fake" unicorn horn. It was believed that he could help identify poisoned wine and put a doomed patient back on his feet.

Narwhals belong to the dolphin family, a suborder of toothed whales. But narwhals are toothless creatures. The lower jaw has no teeth at all. The upper one has only two rudiments. In the female they never erupt. In males, only the left tooth—the tusk—erupts.

It pierces the upper lip and grows straight forward two to three meters, twisting clockwise into a tight, tight corkscrew. Why only the left tooth grows, why it is so huge and has a left “thread” is one of the mysteries of these animals.

A fast-swimming herd looks impressive. The animals stay close together and perform all maneuvers synchronously. Males look no less impressive when they rest calmly on the surface of the sea. Their long tusks are directed forward, sometimes upward and seem to be directed towards the sky.

No one knows for sure why males need tusks. It is believed that this weapon is a distinctive sign necessary for mating games, although such an assumption is not substantiated. After all, the rest of the dolphins mating season are easily bypassed with sound and chemical alarms.

Some polar explorers believe that tusks are necessary for males during mating tournaments. Indeed, observing the behavior of narwhals in breeding waters, scientists noticed that the animals often crossed their weapons. However, no one saw it come to serious brawls.

It is believed that tusks help whales during hunting. A school of males surrounds a school of cod or haddock in a large arc. But when the climax of the hunt comes, the “spikes” are not used. At shallow depths in transparent ocean water managed to see how narwhals were scared off the ground with their tusks bottom fish.

It is possible that fish lying on the bottom are difficult for animals to notice and awkward to grab. However, this is unlikely to be of significant importance. Otherwise, nature would not deprive the females, who especially need to have plenty of food and be well nourished in order to feed their young.

That rare case when a narwhal has 2 tusks

Narwhals are typical inhabitants of the Arctic. When the water is free of ice in summer, they rush north, often reaching 80-85 degrees northern latitude, reaching the edge polar ice. Polar explorers at northern drifting stations have encountered them more than once.

With the onset of winter, the animals migrate to the south following the movement of the ice edge. Their favorite places- Canadian Arctic Archipelago and the shores of Greenland, the waters of Spitsbergen, Franz Josef Land and the waters around the northern tip of the North Island of Novaya Zemlya.

Narwhals live in small groups and very rarely form herds of up to a hundred animals. They feed mainly on cephalopods, but do not disdain fish, eating mainly bottom-dwelling slow-moving representatives of the ichthyofauna. Apparently, they are easier to catch with the narwhal's toothless mouth. In search of food, they dive almost half a kilometer and remain under water for a long time.

Frosts are not scary for narwhals. If the sea is covered fresh ice, the largest male pierces it with his powerful tusk and back. A small hole is formed, which, if the frost is not severe, the narwhals manage to keep free of ice for a long time. In severe frosts, the entire herd gathers at one outlet. They sometimes spend several months at such outlets. And it's not emergency. Living in such winter apartments is not uncommon.

Narwhals stay underwater for quite a long time. During this time, they walk several kilometers, searching a huge area, and find enough food for themselves. In winter, like most cetaceans, narwhals apparently do not feed at all.

However, wintering in the Arctic does not always go well. When significant ice movements occur, the leads often close, and separate groups narwhals find themselves trapped in small holes. The water in them seems to be boiling with animals trying to break through to the surface and take a breath of air. It is possible that many narwhals die under such conditions.

Sometimes it comes to small holes where narwhals gather polar bear. Without thinking, he jumps on the unicorn's back, kills it and drags it onto the ice. It happens that the polar wanderer is not limited to a single victim. Hidden near the wormwood, a predator with a strong blow paws kills and drags narwhals onto the ice one by one when the whales emerge to breathe.

One day, polar explorers discovered a bear's nest, near which there were 21 narwhal carcasses neatly stacked. This supply could be enough for a clubfoot hunter to last more than one winter. Usually a polar bear, if it is not very hungry, eats only the entrails and fat of the narwhal, leaving almost nothing else. Only a mother bear and her cubs, who have recently left their den, find a taste for dolphin meat.

However, the hunting of the Arctic tramp is not always so successful. If solid heavy ice has imprisoned several families or herds in one area of ​​the ocean, each of which has “its own” polynya, they maintain an acoustic connection with each other, apparently “visiting” each other; having been attacked, they seek refuge with their neighbors and never return to their refuge.

The Eskimos of Greenland, who hunt seals, narwhals and beluga whales in the ice in winter, and also often while away the winter under ice fields, say that taking two unicorns from one hole is much less common than taking several beluga whales.

Narwhals are well adapted to life in ice. The large male easily crushes ice 5 centimeters thick. If the tusk breaks, then regeneration begins along the edges of the break, and soon the site of damage, along with the dental canal, is closed with a natural bone filling.

In addition to humans and bears, narwhals have another enemy - killer whales. The Eskimos claim that it is because of killer whales that narwhals go to live in drifting ice or enter fiords that extend deep into the land, where killer whales do not like to swim.

For life in cold water Narwhal eyes have an interesting adaptation. Like all cetaceans, they lie deep. Only the iris is visible through the gap of the eyelids. It is richly supplied with blood vessels that carry heat. In addition, in narwhals, the intraocular fluid circulates quite intensively, which prevents cooling of the photosensitive receptors of the fundus.

For the normal functioning of receptor formations and the conduction of excitation in nerve fibers, a known temperature optimum is required. Everyone has probably noticed how quickly the skin of the hands loses pain sensitivity when working in cold water.

At such moments, you can cause quite significant damage to yourself without causing pain. This arrangement of the eyes indirectly indicates that vision is an important sensory organ for narwhals, although they have to live for a long time in the darkness of their winter apartments under the ice.

ABOUT family traditions Few narwhals are known. Adorable bluish-gray or slate-colored newborn narwhals appear to be born at any time of year. They reach a length of 1.5-1.7 meters, and the “boys” do not yet have the famous tusk. For narwhals this is a “wisdom tooth”. He grows up a little later.

Baby narwhals - suckers - are very similar to beluga whales and have light skin; adults are covered with light skin with gray-brown spots.

Like other dolphins, the narwhal has a hydro-echo-locator. How else? At a depth of several hundred meters, under continuous massifs of ice fields, pitch darkness reigns. You can’t find food, wormwood, or your herd.

Many sounds made by narwhals are clearly audible to the human ear. There is nothing surprising. Zoologists consider the unicorn to be the closest relative of the most noisy dolphin - the beluga whale. Narwhals produce sharp sounds that resemble a whistle, sometimes ending in a short explosion.

They make groans (or heavy sighs) reminiscent of similar sounds of a large land animal, such as a cow or a bear, clicks, creaks... Often gurgling sounds are heard in a herd of narwhals, the kind that occurs when gargling.

A few years ago, a group of American scientists decided to study the sounds of the narwhal. There has already been some experience in keeping unicorns in captivity. They lived at the Niagara Fox in the USA and at the Vancouver Aquarium in Canada.

However, in recent decades the animals have become rare enough that capturing them would be prohibitively expensive. Therefore, the narwhals were not brought to the laboratory, but the laboratory went out in search of them. This is now always done when researching whales.

During the study, we managed to find two herds of unicorns in the Iceland region. The first was small, 10-12 narwhals. The second consisted of approximately 50 animals. We managed to get almost close to him. A herd of narwhals circled a few meters from the hydrophone. The sounds of individual animals were drowned in a general harmonious chorus. It was extremely difficult to isolate and analyze them.

Nevertheless, scientists were able to establish that sound clicks are generated in the range from 1.5 to 24 kilohertz at a speed of up to 300 clicks per second, and short squeals last up to 0.1 seconds. Unlike dolphins, when approaching an obstacle, they do not increase the frequency of location messages. It has not yet been possible to learn anything more about the echolocation of narwhals.

The life of unicorns still holds many mysteries. It's not easy to open them. And yet this must be done, if only to enrich biological science new data about the narwhal - an animal that undoubtedly needs protection.

The underwater world is populated by a huge number unusual inhabitants. Special place Among them is the narwhal, a mammal belonging to the suborder of toothed whales, the Narwhal family, known for the presence of a long straight tusk in males.

This rare species of whale has not yet been fully studied, and therefore is of great interest to researchers.

Narwhal: description of the animal

A powerful animal, whose body length sometimes exceeds five meters and weighs more than a ton. The bulk of the mass is made up of adipose tissue, which is vital for the narwhal to survive in the icy Arctic waters. Males are much larger than females, almost one and a half times. The animal narwhal looks like whales or dolphins: they have a very large head, almost round, but at the same time a disproportionately small mouth, and there is no dorsal fin.

The narwhal, whose photo can be seen in many publications for nature lovers, does not have a monochromatic color: its body is covered with dark gray spots on a light gray background. Compared to other cetaceans, the male narwhal looks unusual due to its twisted, huge tusk-horn, which often reaches three meters in length.

In fact, this animal has two horns, but the second one is practically undeveloped and is difficult to notice with the naked eye. Only 0.5% of narwhals boast two full tusks. In other cases, the second one dies off as unnecessary.

In most cases, female narwhals do not have horns; however, isolated cases of the appearance of a tusk have been recorded in the fair half of narwhals, but scientists cannot yet explain what causes this phenomenon.

Narwhal Tusk

As we have already said, the narwhal animal has a huge spindle-shaped outgrowth, which is called a tusk or horn. Why does the narwhal need it? The first thing that comes to mind is for protection from enemies, because it looks intimidating: impressive size, pointed shape. In reality, everything is different.

What is commonly called a narwhal's horn is actually the left front tooth modified during evolution, which has transformed into a tusk. It is hollow and quite light, its weight does not exceed 10 kg. The tusk is never used to protect against enemies or attacks on prey.

The males of these aquatic giants often stage peculiar “knightly fights”: they rub their tusks. Many scientists believe that in this way, the narwhal, the photo of which you see below, is fighting for leadership in the group or fighting for the female.

In 2006, another interesting version appeared. Researcher Martin Nviiya, based on his observations, came to the conclusion that the narwhal tusk is a hypersensitive organ that contains many nerve endings. It is this that allows the animal to sense changes in pressure and temperature, and the concentration of suspended particles in the water. And friction with tusks is not a mating fight, but an opportunity to get rid of the formed growths.

Habitat

Of all cetaceans, the narwhal animal lives in the most northern regions between 70 and 80° north latitude. Unlike their relatives, these whales are more demanding of their habitat, and therefore have a limited range. This representative of cetaceans is rarely found far from loose ice. They prefer deep waters. The largest populations of these animals are concentrated in the Davis Strait, Greenland Sea, and Baffin Sea.

The narwhal is often found in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago (in the northern parts), north of Spitsbergen and Franz Josef Land. It is extremely rare to see a narwhal between Cape Barrow and the mouth of the Kolyma River, since there are few cephalopods in these places.

Narwhals prefer cold waters near the edge arctic ice. Every year they make seasonal migrations: in winter they go south, and in summer they go north. In summer, narwhals settle in deeper bays and fjords. The most famous and probably the world's largest population lives in the deep bays in the eastern Canadian Arctic.

Below the seventieth degree north latitude, beyond the polar waters, narwhals rarely go, mainly in winter time. In winter, these whales have adapted to live in waters among the ice. When the ice holes freeze completely, the males break the five-centimeter-thick ice from below, striking with their tusks and backs. All members of the herd can breathe through such a hole.

When the ice begins to move, the clearings close, and individual groups of animals find themselves locked in small ice holes. Narwhals try to break to the surface to take a breath of air. It is likely that many of them die in such situations.

Lifestyle

The narwhal animal can live either alone or in small groups of 6-8 adult males or females with cubs. Once upon a time, these whales formed large colonies of several hundred, and sometimes thousands of heads, and today their number rarely exceeds a hundred. Like other cetaceans, narwhals communicate using different sounds, quite sharp, reminiscent of a whistle, in addition, they can make groans, mooing, clicks, gurgling and even squeaks.

Reproduction

It is known that the female’s pregnancy lasts almost 16 months, mating occurs between March and May, and the birth of cubs the following year in July-August. Narwhals copulate in an upright position. The birth of the cubs occurs tail first.

Usually one baby appears, but at the same time, cases of the birth of twins are officially recorded. Newborns are painted black; they become spotted with age. The body length of the cubs at birth is up to 1.7 meters, weight - about 80 kg. Layer subcutaneous fat baby more than 25 mm. The exact duration of lactation is unknown, but there is an assumption that it is about 20 months, like in beluga whales. The interval between births is three years. Physical maturity occurs between the ages of four and seven years.

Nutrition

The marine animal narwhal feeds on cephalopods, and much less often on fish and crustaceans, most often eating bottom representatives of ichthyofauna (ray, cod, flounder, halibut, gobies). In search of food, these giants descend to a kilometer depth and remain under water for a long time. These whales flush out bottom-dwelling fish from the ground using their tusks.

Number

Until now, the exact number of narwhals has not been established. This is explained primarily by the fact that it is very difficult to observe and study these animals, since they live in places inaccessible to humans. According to rough estimates by scientists, about 50 thousand individuals live on Earth. The decrease in numbers is associated with pollution of the World Ocean, fishing and poaching. The peoples of Greenland and Canada still kill these rare animals today, use their fat and meat for food, and make various souvenirs from the tusks.

A natural factor that seriously affects the number of narwhals is the attack of predators: killer whales, polar bears, sharks and walruses.

Animals of the Red Book of Russia: narwhal

Narwhal is a marine mammal listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation as a “rare small species.” Hunting and catching narwhals is prohibited in Russia. These animals are indicators of the well-being of the ecosystem: they are sensitive to the slightest changes climatic conditions, as well as environmental pollution.

The narwhal is listed as a “nearly vulnerable species” in the International Red Book. In Greenland and Canada, there are restrictive measures that apply to hunting individuals with cubs and pregnant females, and there is a special quota for their capture.