1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Narwhal

​NARWHAL, the Scandinavian name of a cetacean (Monodonmonoceros), characterized by the presence in the male of a longhorn-like tusk. In the adult of both sexes there are only twoteeth, both in the upper jaw, which lie horizontally side by side,and in the female remain throughout life concealed in cavitiesof the bone. In the male the right tooth usually remains similarlyconcealed, but the left is immensely developed, attaining a lengthequal to more than half that of the entire animal. In a narwhal12 ft. long, from snout to end of tail, the exserted portion of thetusk may measure 6 or 7 and occasionally 8 ft. in length. Itprojects horizontally forwards from the head in the form of acylindrical or slightly tapering, pointed tusk, composed of ivory,with a central cavity reaching almost to the apex, withoutenamel, and with the surface marked by spiral grooves andridges, running in a sinistral direction. Occasionally both leftand right tusks are developed, in which case the direction of thegrooves is the same in both. No instance has yet been metwith of the complete development of the right tusk associatedwith a rudimentary development of the left. In young animalsseveral small additional teeth are present, but these usuallydisappear soon after birth.

The head is rather short and rounded; the fore limbs orpaddles are small and broad compared with those of mostdolphins; and (as in the beluga) a dorsal fin, found in nearly allother members of the group, is wanting. The general colour ofthe surface is dark grey above and white below, variouslymarbled and spotted with shades of grey.

The narwhal is an Arctic whale, frequenting the icy circum-polarseas, are rarely seen south of 65º N. lat. Four instanceshave, however, been recorded on its occurrence on the Britishcoasts, one on the coast of Norfolk in 1588, one in the Firth ofForth in 1648, one near Boston in Lincolnshire in 1800, whilea fourth entangled itself among rocks in the Sound of Weesdale,Shetland, in September 1808. Like most cetaceans it is gregariousand usually met with in “schools” or herds of fifteen ortwenty individuals. Its food appears to be cuttlefishes, smallfishes and crustaceans. The purpose served by the tusk—or“horn”—is not known; and little is known of the habits ofnarwhals. Scoresby describes them as “extremely playful,frequently elevating their horns and crossing them with eachother as in fencing.” They have never been known to charge andpierce the bottoms of ships with their weapons, as the swordfishdoes. The name “sea-unicorn” is sometimes applied to thenarwhal. The ivory of which the tusk is composed is of verygood quality, but owing to the central cavity, only fitted for themanufacture of objects of small size. The entire tusks aresometimes used for decorative purposes, are of considerable,though fluctuating value. (See Cetacea.)⁠(W. H. F.)