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Following the 

Ocean Unicorn

Is this a unicorn? Not really—it’s actually a drawing of a narwhal, a 

whale that spends its entire life in the Arctic. Most male narwhals have 

a tooth in their upper jaw that forms a long tusk. For several centuries, 

northern traders sold narwhal tusks throughout Europe, claiming they 

were unicorn horns. One of the largest groups of narwhals spends most of 

the winter in Ba n Bay, between Canada and the western coast of Greenland. This is an unusual area, because while most of the Arctic is getting 

warmer, air and sea surface temperatures near western Greenland are 

getting cooler, and sea ice concentrations in Ba n Bay have increased 

signifi cantly since 1953. But at the same time, temperatures in deep 

water below 1,200 feet in Ba n Bay are slowly getting warmer. 

What You Will Do

Make a poster about narwhals, how they are being affected by climate change, 

how climate change may affect humans, and what we can do about it.

This is important, because the deep water in Ba n Bay is part of a 

worldwide system of deep currents that connect Earth’s largest oceans. 

Temperature is one of the things that makes this system work, and some 

scientists are worried that changing temperatures in the Arctic could 

cause the system to slow down or even stop working entirely. Even though 

it’s getting warmer, the Arctic is still a di cult place to do scientifi c work, 

and it has been almost impossible for scientists to gather very much 

information on deep ocean temperatures.

Believe it or not, narwhals may help solve this problem! Narwhals in 

Ba n Bay often dive more than 4,500 feet deep to fi nd food. And 

they do this during the winter when it is impossible for scientists to do 

deep ocean research in the Arctic region. NOAA’s Ocean Explorer 2006 

Arctic Winter Ecosystem Exploration attached instrument packages 

From An account of the Arctic regions with a history and description of the northern whalefi shery by W. Scoresby. 1820. Courtesy NOAA..
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Science | Service | STEWARDSHIP PROTECT THE EARTH

called “satellite tags” to narwhals to record 

temperature and depth during deep dives 

for food. A transmitter in each tag sends the 

information to a satellite, and the satellite 

sends the information back to Earth to give 

scientists the fi rst-ever data on deepwater 

winter temperatures in Ba n Bay. 

Unfortunately, narwhal populations may be 

declining. There are several possible reasons for 

this:

• Hunting by indigenous Arctic peoples (which 

means people who have lived in the Arctic 

for hundreds of years);

• Increased harvest of fi sh by humans, reducing the amount of food available for 

narwhals; and/or

• Climate change. 

Ba n Bay is one of the few places in the Arctic 

where sea ice is increasing; and this causes 

problems for narwhals because it reduces the 

amount of open water needed by the whales, 

and increases the danger that they may become 

trapped in the ice.

Does this seem that what’s bad for 

the narwhals might be good for the 

polar bears? Not really, because 

not enough ice where ice should be 

is just as bad as too much ice where 

ice should not be. Remember, too, 

that even though the average temperature in the 

Arctic is going up, there can still be places that 

are colder than the average; but these colder 

temperatures are balanced by temperatures in 

other places that are higher than the average.

Just as narwhals are helping scientists study 

the deep ocean, they can also help you tell 

other people about global climate change.

What You Will Need

❒ Copies of “Images for Narwhal Posters”

❒ Information from the introduction for this 

activity, the “Narwhal Fact Sheet” and “Is Our 

Climate Changing?” (page 137)

❒ Crayons, colored markers, or colored pencils

❒ Poster board

❒ Scissors

Warning

 Be careful with sharp scissors!

How to Do It

1. Use the images and information to create a 

poster that explains about narwhals and how 

they are being aff ected by climate change. 

You may also want to include information 

about why climate change is important to us, 

what we can do about it, and possibly some 

ideas and information from the “What are the 

Impacts of Shrinking Polar Ice Caps? on page 

121, since it also deals with climate change 

and Arctic animals.

2. Show your poster at school, to your parents, 

and to other groups. The more people know 

about climate change and how it aff ects life 

on Earth, the more they will take action to 

protect Earth’s ecosystems.

Want to Do More?

Visit www.oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/

explorations/06arctic/welcome.html for 

more information about narwhals and NOAA’s 

Ocean Explorer 2006 Arctic Winter Ecosystem 

Exploration. 

This activity was adapted from “The Ocean 

Unicorn” (10 pages, 292 kb) by Mel Goodwin, PhD and science writer, Charleston, SC; 

from the Ocean Explorer 2006 Arctic Winter 

Ecosystem Exploration [www.oceanexplorer.

noaa.gov/explorations/06arctic/background/edu/media/unicorn.pdf]

Courtesy Kristin Laidre
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130

• Narwhals belong to the genus Monodon and the 

species monoceros.

• Narwhals belong to the class Mammalia and the 

order Cetacea.

• Male and female narwhals have two teeth, in the 

upper jaw. In most female narwhals, the teeth 

never erupt through the gum. In most males, 

the left tooth forms a long tusk. In rare cases, 

males may develop two tusks, and females 

may also develop one or two tusks.

• The most widely accepted explanation for the 

function of the narwhal’s tusk is that it is 

possibly involved with mating behavior or 

as a weapon in battles over possession of 

females.

Narwhal Fact Sheet

• Narwhals spend their entire lives in the Arctic.

• Narwhals eat fi sh (including polar cod, 

Greenland halibut, fl ounder, salmon, 

and herring), cephalopods (squids and 

octopuses), and shrimp.

• Narwhals can dive to depths of 4,500 feet or 

more.

• Narwhals need to come to the surface of the 

ocean periodically, because they are mammals and must surface to breathe air.

• Normally, a female narwhal produces one calf 

at a time.

• Narwhals seem to prefer deep water near 

loose pack ice. In the summer, they occupy 

deep bays and fjords in the Canadian High 

Arctic and Greenland. As winter approaches, 

narwhals migrate into the pack ice of Baffi n 

Bay, the northern Davis Strait, and adjacent 

waters.

• Narwhals can live for 50 years or more.

• Narwhals have been traditionally hunted 

by indigenous Arctic peoples who value 

them as a staple food (the skin is rich in 

vitamin C), as well as for their tusks (though 

international eff orts to control the global 

ivory trade may have reduced tusk sales in 

recent years). Narwhal sinews (tissues that 

attach muscles to bones) may also be used as 

thread.

Several male narwhals in 

West Greenland. Courtesy 

Mads Peter Heide-Jorgensen
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Images for Narwhal Posters

Melville Bay is the site of many active glaciers. The area is filled with large icebergs that 

dwarf the Sila, the boat used for narwhal tagging/tracking. Courtesy Kristin Laidre.

Narwhals. Courtesy Kristin Laidre

Male narwhals. Courtesy Mads Peter Heide-Jorgensen

Narwhals. Courtesy Kristin Laidre
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Instrument packages called “satellite tags” are 

attached to narwhals by plastic coated wires 

affixed to two nylon pins (1/4 inch diameter) 

inserted through the dorsal ridge on the 

whales’ back (the whales shed the tags after 

several months; 14 months is the longest 

time a tag has stayed on a whale). An alternative method of attaching the tags involves 

placing the tags into small cylinders that are 

implanted in the layer of blubber along the 

whales’ back using hand-held thrown poles 

similar to harpoons. Tags attached using the 

latter methods are only expected to provide 

data for four to five weeks.

Satellite-based locations for three narwhals 

tagged in Melville Bay in September 2006. Whales 

are still in their coastal summering grounds but 

will migrate offshore by mid-November. Courtesy Kristin Laidre

Narwhal wintering areas (pink) in Baffin Bay and 

Davis Strait. Courtesy Kristin Laidre Male narwhal (ID 3964) captured and satellite tagged. 

You can see where he went in the map to the left. 

Courtesy Kristin Laidre

Does Tagging Hurt Narwhals? 

Researchers say “No, we have quite good 

evidence that tagging does not hurt them—both 

in the short and long term.” Satellite tags are 

only attached into blubber where there are few 

nerve endings, and the whales do not react at 

all when he tags are attached. As soon as the 

whales are released, they immediately resume 

normal behavior. In addition, whales that have 

been recaptured several years after tagging show 

no evidence of being harmed by the tagging 

process.