Narwhals: Tusked Oddities

I’m going to take you a step away from the ordinary, to show you something truly bizarre. But first, let me describe this creature. It has one large and spiraled tooth that winds awkwardly from its mouth. It can move in excess of 35 miles per hour, it loves the cold, and lives in water… what is it? What I am talking about is the Narwhal. Not much is known about these strange creatures, so I will go over several things about them, including some historical background, their location and habits, and the use of their tusk.

The name Narwhal comes from the Norwegian, which means “Corpse whale”. The reason is obvious if you look at one; their bodies are splotched the color of rotting flesh. If you look at the picture below, you can see what I mean.

Narwhals are actually to blame for the unicorn legend! Norwegians would sell these tusks to the Europeans as “unicorn horns” and claimed they had magical properties. Products were produced from these tusks, such as magic powder (which would froth when food was poisoned), good luck charms, etc, all of which had no real affect. Queen Elizabeth actually spent 10,000 Euros (the price of a castle) on a “unicorn” scepter that was carved and bejeweled. She was informed that if she waved it over her food, she would be able to tell if it was tainted or not. Needless to say, tusks were popular items, and if you could afford one, was a sign of higher class.

All of this was fueled by Norwegian trade, which limited these exported tusks to seem as if there were few, and that they were valuable. Through tricking the Europeans, they made a profit selling something that was common, and that they had little use for! The reason they got away with this was because the Norwegians and the Inuit Indians were the only people to come into contact with Narwhals for many years, until the 15th Century Age of Exploration. Until that time, no one knew what a tusked whale was. And the funny thing is, even for a little while after they were discovered, they did not catch on. The reason for this was that, during the time, there was a popular belief that everyone and everything had an equal sea counterpart (this is where mermaids came from also), and when one was discovered washed onshore, it was assumed to be the sea counterpart of a unicorn!