Narwhals! The Unicorns of the ocean. albeit slightly less magnificent

Unicorns do exist! But, they're either fat and grey and named Rhinos, or they're.. well fat and grey and named Narwhals.

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The narwhal, or narwhale (Monodon monoceros) is a species of whale closely related to the beluga whale. It is a medium sized whale roughly 5m long and weighing around 1500kg. It has a very distinct tusk protruding from its canine tooth which has had it aptly dubbed the unicorn of the ocean.

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The narwhal can be found in arctic waters closest to Greenland, Canada and Russia, it is an arctic predator feeding mainly on fish, they can live up to 50 years but many die from suffocation when they become trapped under sea ice that has frozen over. They can dive for approximately 25 minutes and in this time in the extreme temperatures they reside the waters surface can freeze over leaving them trapped :(

Narwhals have been hunted for over a thousand years by native Inuit peoples for their meat and ivory, hunting itself has not put them in danger but starvation is another big risk to them, they are currently ranked Near Threatened under the criteria of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Still a unicorn if you ask me. source

Although fairly well known there are still skeptics of narwhals existence. In fact as i was researching this the first thing that popped up in the google prediction box was "are narwhals real".
Narwhals shot to fame around 2007 when they became a meme from Reddit. The infamous "the narwhal bacons at midnight" (who fkn knows) was a phrase used to identify yourself as a fellow Redditor and from then on narwhal memes became very popular.

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Their tusks are easily their most identifiable feature, the reason behind their tusks was thought to be for shows of aggression during mating and to fend off rival males however recently captured drone footage has shown they often use them to "stun" their prey by smacking them with it and making it easier to catch them. There is also some evidence to suggest that when they rub the tusks on each other it transfers information about where they have been.

The tusks grow throughout their lives continuously reaching lengths of up to 3m long. Only around 15% of females grow tusks and around 1 in 500 males grow a double tusk.

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As with most whales Narwhals use a sophisticated language of clicks whistles and knocks but they are also known to "trumpet" and to make sounds similiar to a squeaking door lol.

The narwhal really is an incredibly individual creature, so easily recognizable and a favorite of the internet for years they are for the most part a fairly boring creature but have obvious attractions.
It would be quite cool to meet one in the open ocean but i fear i would get skewered and im not a huge fan of the cold so chances are i never will.

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