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Annual Review of Animal Biosciences

Volume 12, 2024

Biology and Cultural Importance of the Narwhal

Abstract

Though narwhal have survived multiple ice ages, including 2.5 Ma and the last interglacial period with warming temperatures, Arctic climate change during the Anthropocene introduces new challenges. Despite their evolutionary connection to Arctic Pleistocene fossils, narwhal archeocete ancestors from the Pliocene () and Miocene ( and Odobenocetopsidae) inhabited warm waters. Narwhal Arctic adaptation holds valuable insights into unique traits, including thin skin; extreme diving capacity; and a unique straight, spiraled, and sensory tooth organ system. Inaccessible weather, ice conditions, and darkness limit scientific studies, though Inuit knowledge adds valuable observations of narwhal ecology, biology, and behavior. Existing and future studies in myriad fields of physical, chemical, biological, and genetic science, combined and integrated with remote sensing and imaging technologies, will help elucidate narwhal evolution, biology, and adaptation. When integrated with , “the Inuit way of knowing,” these studies help describe interesting biologic expressions of the narwhal.

Keyword(s): Inuit, narwhal, Qaujimajatuqangit, Isuma, sensory, tusk
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2024-02-15
2024-04-29
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Biology and Cultural Importance of the Narwhal
Annual Review of Animal Biosciences 12, 187 (2024); https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-animal-021122-112307
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-animal-021122-112307
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-animal-021122-112307
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