Tusk, Tusk: Nathan the Narwhal Not Forthcoming on the Use of His Spiraled Tooth

Roving rodent reporter Zoey the zoo mouse and photographer Zeek have jumped into the icy waters of the Monodon monoceros exhibit this week, to talk tusks and temperature with Nathan the narwhal.

Zeek: Do you think these dry suits will keep us warm, Zoey?

Zoey: I hope so, but we’ll see …

You must be Nathan! Wow, I’ve never seen anything quite like you before.

Nathan: It’s the tusk, isn’t it?

Zoey: That’s a tusk? I’ve never seen one that’s spiraled … and that sticks straight out.

Nathan: Yep. It’s actually a very long tooth that grows out from the left side of my mouth.

Zeek: Whoa, watch it with that thing!

Nathan: Sorry. Sometimes I forget how long it is.

Zoey: It looks like your tusk is half as long as your body!

Nathan: Almost. My body’s about 23 feet long, and my tusk is 10 feet.

Zoey: Wow! Do all narwhals have them?

Nathan: All males do. Occasionally a female will grow one, but it’s rare.

Zoey: What’s it for?

Nathan: I’m not at liberty to say. All I can tell you is that we males sometimes use it for sparring … at least that’s what we want it to look like.

Zoey: Okay … why can’t you tell me more?Nathan: Humans stuck us with our ugly name, so we decided to keep some of our behaviors secret as a sort of protest … it drives researchers crazy!

Zeek: Zoey, I’m starting to feel a little ch-ch-chilly …

Zoey: Me, too, Zeek … I’ll try to move things along. So what don’t you like about your name?

Nathan: Narwhal is an Old Norse word meaning “corpse whale.”

Zoey: Ew, “corpse whale”?

Nathan: Yeah, not very flattering, is it? We think it may have something to do with our mottled gray and white coloring or something, but with humans you never know what they’re thinking. All we know is that we’re very insulted.

Zoey: Brrrrr! It’s freezing! Is this the way you like it?

Nathan: Oh, to us, this is perfect! In the wild, we live in the high Arctic, often close to ice. That’s why the zookeepers have provided us with the tundra biome and these brisk Arctic waters.

Zoey: Well, I don’t think Zeek and I are going to last much longer in it ...

Zeek: Yeah, Zoey, I’m shivering like c-c-crazy, and my c-c-camera finger is getting numb.

Zoey: Okay, get a picture and we’ll get back to warm dry land soon! Nathan, in the wild, what would you find to eat in such cold water?

Nathan: Fish, squid, shrimp … pretty much what the zookeepers feed us here. Heh, looks like you could use a layer of my protective blubber! It keeps me nice and warm …

Zoey: Yep. I’m c-c-cold all right. A c-c-couple more questions …. How m-m-many of you are there?

Nathan: We have six members in our pod, which is about half of what you’d see in the wild. Six is about right for the size of our exhibit, though.

Zoey: Any f-f-females in your p-p-p-pod?

Nathan: Nah. Just the guys. That’s not unusual in the wild, either… although we’d probably end up in larger groups with females for periods of time. Hey, is your face turning blue?

Zoey: Sorry t-t-to c-c-cut this short, N-n-nathan, b-b-but we have to g-g-get out of here n-n-now! Come on, Z-z-zeek!