{"id":30539,"date":"2026-08-23T13:34:47","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T08:04:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=30539"},"modified":"2026-08-23T17:19:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T11:49:48","slug":"narwhals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/narwhals\/","title":{"rendered":"Narwhals"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Narwhals Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scientists recently discovered that a narwhal\u2019s uniquely straight tusk grows strong because opposing twists in its inner and outer collagen fibril layers create internal tension that keeps it straight. <\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>About Narwhal<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is a <\/span><b>medium-sized toothed whale<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that belongs to the family Monodontidae.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>only other member of this family<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is the <\/span><b>beluga whale.\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scientific Name: Monodon monoceros\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Narwhal <\/b><b>Habitat and Distribution<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They live in the <\/span><b>Arctic Ocean,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> mostly in the<\/span><b> Atlantic sector,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> but they have<\/span><b> also been recorded in the Pacific sector.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Their largest numbers live<\/span><b> around Canada, Greenland,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and<\/span><b> eastern Russia.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">usually migrate<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">from under the ice in the winter to inshore waters in the spring and coastal waters in the summer.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Narwhal <\/b><b>Features<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is best <\/span><b>known for its tusk<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2014<\/span><b>a long, spiraled tooth <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">that <\/span><b>usually only the males develop. (Females occasionally do.)\u00a0<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Recent observations suggest that the males use their tusks to <\/span><b>hunt fish <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and to <\/span><b>detect the level of salt in the waters<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> through which they swim.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The tusk can grow to<\/span><b> 3 meters long <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and weigh more than 10 kilograms.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In mediaeval times, narwhals were <\/span><b>hunted for their tusks<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and people would <\/span><b>sell them as unicorn horns<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2014earning narwhals the <\/span><b>nickname &#8216;unicorn of the sea&#8217;.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Narwhals have <\/span><b>stout, torpedo-shaped bodies<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with a <\/span><b>low dorsal ridge in place of a dorsal fin<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and a concave-shaped tail fin.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Like belugas, narwhals have <\/span><b>short paddle-shaped front flippers<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, but they lack their extremely flexible neck and well-defined beak.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Adult narwhals<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> are <\/span><b>light grey with numerous irregular black spots<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">; the spots are more numerous on the back and fewer on the belly.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Narwhals tend to <\/span><b>travel in groups <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">of 15 to 20, though larger gatherings of hundreds or even thousands of individuals have been observed.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They are<\/span><b> one of the deepest diving whales in the world<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and can<\/span><b> hold their breath for 25-30 minutes<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> at a time.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Narwhals feed on fish, squid, and shrimp.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They <\/span><b>use sound to communicate<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with each other, as well as to navigate their surroundings, hunt, and see.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Narwhal <\/b><b>Conservation Status<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is classified as &#8216;<b>Least Concern<\/b>&#8216; under the <a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/iucn-red-list\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>IUCN Red List<\/strong><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>News: <\/b><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/epaper.thehindu.com\/ccidist-ws\/th\/th_delhi\/issues\/200679\/OPS\/GIMGECCKC.1+G5BGEDLBQ.1.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">TH<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Narwhal, or Monodon monoceros, is a toothed whale found mainly in the Arctic Ocean around Canada, Greenland, and eastern Russia. Read more about Narwhals, Features, Distribution, Conservation Status, News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":30540,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[9744,21,22,23],"class_list":["post-30539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","tag-narwhals","tag-prelims-pointers","tag-upsc-current-affairs","tag-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","no-featured-image-padding"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30539"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30539\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":120706,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30539\/revisions\/120706"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}