Narwhal

Narwhals are real-life sea unicorns of the Arctic. The long spiral "horn" on males is actually a tooth that grows right through the upper lip — up to 10 feet long — and works like a giant sensor for the icy sea.

Narwhals live in the icy waters of the Arctic, around Greenland and northern Canada, and they never leave the cold. They are medium-sized whales with mottled grey skin and no dorsal fin — a smooth back is easier for sliding under sea ice. The famous spiral tusk is a tooth that grows straight through the upper lip, mostly on males, and can reach 10 feet long. Very rarely a narwhal grows two. The tusk is not a weapon for fighting; it is a sensor packed with millions of nerve endings that reads the water around it.

Narwhals eat fish such as halibut and cod, plus squid and shrimp, and they find much of their food far below the surface. They are champion divers, going down almost a mile and staying under for a long time on a single breath. In winter they hunt in the dark under thick sea ice, keeping track of the few cracks where they can surface to breathe. Like other toothed whales they use clicks and echoes to find prey in water where there is almost no light.

Narwhals travel in groups, and in summer hundreds can gather in the same bay, while in winter they spread out under the ice in smaller pods. A mother has one calf at a time and nurses it for well over a year, and the young whale stays close to her, learning the routes between summer and winter waters. Narwhals are listed as least concern, but they live in one of the fastest-changing places on Earth: as the Arctic warms, the ice they hide under and the fish they eat are both on the move.

Here is every narwhal fact from this page and the narwhal quiz in one list — handy for a school project or a car-ride quiz.

1. The narwhal's tusk is a tooth that can grow 10 feet long.
2. The tusk has around 10 million nerve endings to sense the water.
3. Mostly males grow tusks; a rare few grow two.
4. Narwhals are champion divers, reaching depths of almost a mile.
5. They live their whole lives in and around Arctic ice.
6. A narwhal with two tusks is very unusual and special.

❓ Common questions about narwhals

No — narwhals are wild animals that belong in the wild, and keeping one would be unsafe and almost always illegal. But if narwhals are your favorite, here's the closest pet you actually can welcome home:

Meet the FishBecause no pet is a narwhal, but a home aquarium lets you keep and watch amazing underwater life up close. See care guide →

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