The living habits of narwhals

From a distance, the narwhal looks like a long horn on its head, hence the name narwhal. The "horn" of the narwhal is actually a giant tooth. Judging from its embryonic development, the narwhal has a total of 16 teeth. However, most of the teeth have degenerated and disappeared by the time of birth. Only two teeth in the upper jaw remain. In addition, the female whale's teeth are hidden in the upper jaw throughout her life and do not appear outside. The one on the left side of the male whale extends forward through the upper lip, with a length of up to 2 to 3 meters, quite like the spear in the hand of Don Quixote; the one on the right side is also hidden. But in rare cases, its two longer teeth also extend forward at the same time, and it becomes a binarwhale.

What is the use of the "horn" of the narwhal? Some scientists believe that narwhals use their "horns" to dig out the sediment on the seabed to help find food. Some believe that narwhals live in the cold waters of the Arctic and can use their teeth to break ice like seals so they can breathe. But these explanations are difficult to justify. Some biologists believe that the long teeth of narwhals are just a secondary sexual symbol. Just like us humans, men have thick and thick beards. At the same time, this "horn" can be used as a defensive and offensive weapon, especially during the reproductive period. In order to compete for reproductive rights, male whales will engage in a thrilling fight with their teeth. The longer the teeth, the stronger the body, and the greater the superiority. The bigger it is, the easier it is to conquer competitors and achieve the goal of becoming the king and hegemony, so that you can enjoy the beauties in the harem alone. But these are just guesses.

Narwhals are easier to capture because they like to stay on the surface water for longer periods of time and play. However, the meat of narwhals is not very delicious and is not suitable for the taste of Eskimos, so Eskimos do not care much about narwhals. Later, because Westerners mistook the narwhal for the legendary unicorn and believed that its horn could cure all diseases, its price was more expensive than gold. As a result, the narwhal was hunted on a large scale.

animal tags： narwhal