Mammal Encyclopedia: A Horned Whale (Pictured)!

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narwhal

Realm: Animal kingdom animalia

Phylum: Chordata phylum chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Cetacea

Family: Cetaceae monodontidae

Genus: Monodon

Species: One-horned whale m. monoceros

( linnaeus, 1758 )

Distribution: Near the Arctic

Species Overview: summary

Chinese name: One-horned whale (pinyin: yī jiǎo jīng);

English name: narwhal;

Scientific name: monodon monoceros.

Horned whales, also known as narwhals and bilback whales, are irregularly distributed in Arctic waters and the North Atlantic. Although named "Narwhal", the long thing that sticks out of its front is not a horn, but a tooth, and its length can reach up to 2.7 meters. Horned whales are deep divers who feed at depths in the oceans, preying on pelagic fish (especially cod), squid, shrimp, and benthic organisms. A horned whale can live up to 50 years.

The IUCN Red List is listed as: Near Threatened (NT)

Body length: 3.5-4.1 meters in total length

height:

Weight: 800-1600 kg

Life: 50 years old

Diet: Fish (especially cod), squid, shrimp

Reproduction: The gestation period is about 15 months

habit:

Distribution: Near the Arctic

[Appearance characteristics] description

The whale is 3.5-4.1 meters long and weighs 800-1600 kg. The head of a horned whale is small and round, with no protruding beak. The melon protrudes and is slightly upturned in front of the mouth. The pectoral fins are small and broad, but short in length, with slight upward curvatures at the ends. The posterior edge of the tail fin of an adult whale is as conspicuously protruding as a convex mirror, which is reminiscent of butterfly wings when the observer looks down from the plane.

Like beluga whales, one-horned whales do not have dorsal fins, but have low, fleshy bulges in the posterior half of their backs. All horned whales lack functional teeth in their mouths, most females are toothless for life, while the left of the two teeth in the upper jaw of male whales (including a very small number of females) protrudes from the lips at the age of two or three and continues to grow, with the protruding parts reaching 2.7 meters long and weighing more than 10 kilograms.

The tusks are mostly left-handed, mostly hollow inside, and the shaft remains straight, but sometimes torsional. A very small number of male whales (about 1 in 500) will protrude even the right tooth out of the lip, forming a rare case of "double tusks", and the extra right teeth will usually be shorter than the left one. Adult whales are white in color with black spots scattered on the back.

Older individuals are almost entirely white, with black areas still visible only in the center of the back, on the top of the head, and on the edges of the pectoral fins. The newborn whale is pale grey and almost completely black by the time of weaning, after which white patches gradually appear on the abdomen and flanks.

Ecological habits

During the summer, the whales usually form large groups of hundreds of heads, including smaller, more closely related groups of about twenty or so, usually composed of whales of the same sex or age group. When drift ice is prevalent in winter, the distribution of the whale appears to be more dispersed and isolated, perhaps due to fissures and holes in the ice that vary in distance.

Judging by the high incidence of head wounds and trauma, as well as the high incidence of tooth breaks, adult males seem to have a habit of fighting with each other, which may be to establish a field or compete for mating opportunities. Witnesses have clearly seen several horned whales interlacing their teeth at each other on the surface of the sea, but there is no evidence that this is one of the forms of fighting.

Polar bears are known to hunt whales in small ponds with open waters between ice floes, and killer whales hunt them in shallow nearshore waters during the summer months. While they don't have mass mass strandings like pilot whales, they are prone to accidental death due to wind blowing or rapidly forming sea ice. Such incidents occur with high frequency and scale in Disko Bay, West Greenland. One-horned whales often have behaviors such as floating peeping and whale tail hitting waves, but jumping to hit waves is often rare. The jet height is low and not noticeable.

Horned whales are deep divers who feed at depths in the ocean, preying on pelagic fish (especially cod), squid, shrimp, and benthic organisms such as greenland halibut. Dives can take up to 20 minutes and are more than 1,000 meters deep. A horned whale appears to have sucked its prey into its mouth and swallowed it whole, rather than using tusks to poke its prey.

Growth and breeding

Horned whales mate from late winter to spring (peak in April), when they are difficult to observe. Females are about 15 months pregnant, mostly in the summer (July to August, peaking in early August), when they are mostly in the fjord. Both lactation and feeding last at least one year, and reproductive intervals are at least two years, possibly more than three years.

Geographical distribution

The distribution of the horned whale in the Arctic is not continuous. They are found in deep waters, one of which is found north to the North Atlantic basin, particularly the hudson strait, the northern hudson bay, the foxe basin, the davis strait, buffin bay, and the lancaster sound. Another distribution center is located in the greenland sea, and there are also small groups in the northern bering sea.

Their migration appears to be related to the formation and movement of sea ice, and when the ice is incomplete or ruptured in the spring, the whales move along with the shrinking boundaries of the ice floes and quickly cross the fjords between small cracks and melting pores. They leave these areas in the summer and early autumn, and when the ice expands again, they look for waters where the ice continues to move through the winter, which makes it easier for them to find breathing holes in the drift ice swarm.

Living condition

Horned whales have long been hunted by indigenous peoples for food, fuel, and tusks. Its skin (called "maktaq" in indigenous vernacular) is considered a precious delicacy. Commercial whalers also catch horned whales, but only occasionally, and bowhead whales, which also inhabit the Arctic, are their main targets.

In the early twentieth century, the Hudson Bay Company briefly acquired the skin and tusk output of a horned whale (the former used to make soft leather gloves). Tusks have always been high-priced exports, and maktaq is a premium commodity in canada and northern Greenland towns.

The number is estimated at about 35,000 in Baffin Bay, about 1,400 in Davis Strait, and about 300 in Scoresby Sound in East Greenland, and the above data do not include individuals in the submarine, and the actual total number is estimated to be more than 50,000. The greatest known existential threat is human hunting, especially after hunters are equipped with fast motor boats and powerful rifles.

Introduction

the narwhal, or narwhale (monodon monoceros), is a medium-sized toothed whale and possesses a large "tusk" from a protruding canine tooth。

it lives year-round in the arctic waters around greenland, canada, and russia。 it is one of two living species of whale in the monodontidae family, along with the beluga whale。

the narwhal males are distinguished by a long, straight, helical tusk, which is an elongated upper left canine。 the narwhal was one of many species described by carolus linnaeus in his publication systema naturae in 1758。