In ancient and modern times, currencies have changed several times at home and abroad, but gold has always been a precious thing and a proper hard currency. People also often use "gold" to describe precious things.

However, there are some things in the world that are more valuable than gold. One of them is the narwhal's tusks, which are worth ten times as much as gold.

Fantasy Narwhal

The character "unicorn" often appears in fairy tales, and its image is usually a white horse with a horn growing out of its forehead, while narwhals live in the ocean.

The narwhal is also known as the narwhal. The spiral-shaped, spear-like thing on its head is its tooth, not its horn. It is called a narwhal because its tusks look like horns.

There are two incisors in the male whale's mouth. The one on the left is specialized into a long tooth, which can reach 2-3 meters in length.

Most female narwhals do not have long tusks, but there are 10% exceptions. Their tusks are relatively short, about 1 meter long. The narwhal's long tusks are unique among whales, and no other whale has this feature.

The average weight of a narwhal is 800-1600 kilograms. If the length of the tusks is not included, the body length is generally 4-5 meters, which shows how ridiculously long their teeth are.

Narwhals are mainly distributed in the cold waters of the Arctic seas. The global population size exceeds 80,000, and the vast majority of them (estimated to be more than 70,000) live in the Canadian Arctic highlands.

They belong to the family Monodontidae like beluga whales. There have been cases of narwhal orphans living together with beluga whales. The two whale species can also interbreed, and scientists once found a skull that they determined was a beluga-narwhal hybrid.

The natural enemies of narwhals include killer whales, polar bears, etc., but the biggest natural enemy is humans. Eskimos have hunted narwhals for centuries for their tusks and skin, as well as their blubber for burning and lighting.

A tusk can be worth a castle

Historically, the unique tusks of narwhals have been sought after by princes and nobles. In the past, people regarded it as the tentacles of a mythical beast. It was said to be able to cure terminal diseases and possess divine power.

At the end of the 10th century AD, narwhal tusks were regarded as a treasure that could be exchanged for wealth. Merchants regarded them as a very valuable material, so they transported and sold them for a long time.

The ancient Greeks and Romans believed in unicorns, and the existence of narwhals made them strengthen their beliefs. It was even believed that the narwhal's horn could detoxify the poison, and kings and ministersCutlery was made from tusks to prevent poisoning.

In the 16th century, Queen Elizabeth received a narwhal tusk worth £10,000. The same price could buy a castle at the time.

There are also records in Australia that Caesar Carl V once used two narwhal tusks to solve the country's huge debt.

In Vienna, there was a dynasty that used narwhal tusks to make scepters, studded with diamonds and precious stones.

Due to the expense of tusks, narwhals are called "the most arrogant animals in the world", but maybe narwhals don't want such a title, because tusks are their important organs .

What is the use of narwhal horns (tusks)?

Why do narwhals have such long teeth? The most likely explanation is that it is used as an attack weapon. In this case, both males and females should have tusks, but in fact, tusks are almost exclusive to male narwhals.

Scientists studied 100 narwhals captured by Eskimos from 1990 to 2008 and found that when female narwhals choose a partner, they choose the most fertile male, and the length of their tusks Clearly related to this.

This shows that the tusks of male narwhals play the main role, as do the holes.The feathers of a sparrow are similar to the antlers of an elk, which means they attract the opposite sex.

A research team from the United States also analyzed various data from 245 narwhals and found that the larger the narwhals grow, the thicker their tusks will be, but not necessarily longer.

When choosing a mate, female narwhals will pay more attention to males with longer tusks than to stronger bodies. Researchers pointed out that when male whales display their tusks, in addition to courtship, they may also mean a display of force.

Of course, mate selection is only the most important function of tusks. It also has other abilities, such as sensing changes in water temperature and salinity. It may even feel the change in atmospheric pressure and the arrival of a cold wave.

The current situation of narwhals

It is gratifying that the current narwhal population is not in danger of extinction, and the protection level is not in danger.

However, this does not mean that we can take it lightly. Even though most narwhals are doing well now, the Arctic is one of the areas most affected by climate change, and they will naturally be affected as well.

In other words, although narwhals are currently an animal of least concern, they will still be vulnerable in the next few decades.

In addition, the unicorn Arctic mammals such as whales are also affected by human activities. Arctic shipping surges and more ships pass through, the greater the possibility that mammals are in danger, and underwater noise will interfere with their lives.

Scientists specifically analyzed which creatures are most vulnerable to increased harm from Arctic shipping, ranking them by "vulnerability." The results found that among seven species, including polar bears, narwhals had the highest average vulnerability.< /p>

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However, the data on which this analysis is based is incomplete, so it is not very certain. No matter what, when humans explore the earth, they must adhere to principles and live in harmony with nature.