In that endless Arctic Ocean, there lives a different kind of mammal, the horned whale, which is stout and has a relatively small head, resembling a bull's head. Adult thoracic fins are short and blunt, with the tip slightly upturned; the back is slightly arched but without a dorsal fin; the middle of the caudal fin limb is concave, protruding at both ends, in a "V" shape, and the tip is curled upwards, which is more pronounced in older individuals. Juveniles are grey or light brownish grey in color, and as they age, black spots appear on their backs and sides of the body, and their abdomen is pale grey or white, with dark spots. Older individuals tend to be white in color, but there are still black spots on the flippers.
Why is it called a "one-horned whale"? This is because the male has a "horn" about 2-3 meters long in front of the head, so it is also called a "narwhal". In fact, this "horn" is not a horn, but a tooth on the left side of the male's upper jaw, protruding from the mouth and looking very much like a "horn". This spiral-shaped tooth is exposed to the mouth and tilted forward and downward. Interestingly, a horned whale has only two teeth in its mouth, and usually, the two teeth of the female are not exposed, buried inside the upper palate, and are invisible. One of the teeth on the left side of the male is very long, resembling a "horn", which is actually more appropriate to call it a "one-toothed whale". But there are also special cases where individual females sometimes show one tooth and males show two teeth.
According to literature, female whales can be up to 4.2 meters long in adults and adult males can reach 4.7 meters. The maximum weight is 1600 kg. Newborn juveniles are also 1.6 meters long.
For a long time, there has been a lot of debate about the use of the tooth of the horned whale. Some say that when the male whale dives under the ice, it uses it to break the ice to breathe, playing the role of "ice pickaxe", but the female whale does not have this tusk, how does it break the ice when it dives into the ice" And some say that it is used to dig up on the seabed to forage, so the female whale does not have this tusk, how do they forage? In addition, the whales feed on fish, squid and shrimp, and most of them are swimming animals, and may not need to be dug up to eat food. The above two statements are difficult to convince. But more people believe that the male whale's exposed tusks, at the beginning of the breeding season, is a "weapon" for fighting for female whales, the winner occupies the female whale, and the loser is driven away. It is also true that some people have seen male whale fights in the Arctic Ocean, which seems to be more reasonable, but it is only the wishful thinking of cetaceans. In short, people's assumptions about the use of the toothed whale suggest that our understanding of this rare animal is still in a hazy state.
Eskimos living along the coast of the Arctic Ocean and fishermen in northern Europe have hunted whales for hundreds of years. The tusks of a horned whale have always been regarded as precious and have always been expensive. As early as the European Middle Ages, the tusk of a horned whale was considered to be the wand of the immortals, and it was said to have the effect of preventing disease, curing diseases and exorcising evil spirits. The emperors, monarchs, and popes of that time regarded this tusk as the most precious treasure, as if their lives were all tied to it. Famous owners of the horned whale tusks include: Doge of Venice, King Philip II of Spain, Francis I, Pope Crete VII and so on. Although those princes and nobles who once had a horned whale tusk have been repeatedly killed suddenly and inexplicably, this whale tooth still has a reputation for exorcising evil spirits and detoxifying, and its market price has always been high. Legend has it that Charles V of the Roman Empire gave Margrav of Bayreuth, France, two tusks of a one-horned whale to pay for a debt equivalent to $1 million now worth.
The whale has a migratory habit, swimming to open waters in autumn and near shore in spring. They often form small groups of 2-10 heads, but sometimes they can see large groups of hundreds or thousands of heads. Sometimes groups are based on age and sex, and sometimes a group is male individuals. The calving period of a horned whale is between July and August.
Although the research and protection of cetaceans has received more and more attention in recent years, and the horned whale is also listed as one of the protected objects, it has not been strictly restricted, and the local people in northern Canada and Greenland still hunt horned whales and other sea beasts for a living. In the 1980s, around 1,000 horned whales were hunted and killed each year. There are currently only 20,000-30,000 whales in the Arctic Ocean, of which about 10,000 live off the northern coast of Canada and northwest greenland. The recent exploitation of oil and gas resources in the Arctic Ocean and the various marine pollution it causes have had a serious impact on the lives of the whales. It is urgent to protect the whales of the Arctic Ocean.