Caught Off Guard
Megan Sussman | December 2017
“Those don’t exist!” is often what I heard growing up, from both adults and other kids, when I gave the answer to what my favorite animal was. I am often not surprised at the lack of awareness surrounding the narwhal’s existence; they are a species reminiscent of unicorns and are often portrayed as fairytale creatures.
Narwhals definitely exist, there are roughly 10,000 to 45,000 of them living in the arctic coastal waters of our planet and during the summer they migrate to ice-free waters in order to congregate into larger groups. They are very vocal with each other and communicate through clicks, squeals, and whistles. Narwhals are considered whales and are in the same familial classification as Beluga whales. They are carnivorous mammals and can range from 13 to 20 feet in size.
Perhaps the most distinctive feature of the narwhal—and the reason it drew my attention as a kid—is its tusk, which can be up to 8.8 feet long. Although both sexes of the narwhal grow tusks, it is the male that grows the famous “unicorn horn” that is so well known. This “tusk” is actually one of two teeth that they grow and scientists are not one-hundred percent sure on the purpose of this prominent tooth. Some have theorized that it is used for mating rituals and is displayed to impress females and battle other suitors. What scientists are sure of is that this large tooth is NOT used for hunting, rather narwhals create a “vacuum” and suck up their food. Their diet consists of fish, shrimp, and squids and they can dive up to 1500 meters deep and stay under water for 7-25 minutes.
One threat narwhals experience is entanglement in fishing nets; after becoming free from a fishing net, narwhals will often dive deep at an extreme rate because of human-induced stress. When they dive this fast and deep their heart rates plummet, almost as if they are trying to “freeze and flee”. According to a scientist from University of California, Santa Cruz, this is not a response that is usually observed when narwhals are faced with other threats, such as being pursued by a killer whale. It was observed that a narwhal’s heart rate decreased from a normal sixty beats per minute, to only three to four beats per minute after becoming free from a fishing net. As a result, this can restrict blood flow to the brain and can cause confusion and result in deadly consequences, such as beaching.
Another threat, which directly comes from climate change, is the increase in the number of “entrapments” that narwhals experience. Entrapments occur when sudden shifts in wind or drops in temperature cause openings in the ice to rapidly freeze over. Entrapments are a natural occurrence in the Arctic, but recently rapid change in weather has increased due to climate change. This can often lead narwhals to be caught off guard and travel to areas that are not safe to travel to because of rapidly changing sea ice conditions. Entrapments can cause hundreds of narwhals to become stranded and fight and squeeze together into one opening so that they can breathe, this can cause them to suffocate and die while fighting for a place.
Because narwhals live in such an isolated environment, they are vulnerable to disturbances of any kind. Up until recently (relative from the time the species has existed), narwhals were very isolated from human activity until activities such as resource extraction, shipping routes, and anthropogenic climate change began affecting them. Because of anthropogenic activities, the narwhal’s conservation status is listed as “near threatened”. Increasingly narwhals, along with other species, are disappearing because of conditions they did not cause and cannot control. The narwhal lives in one of the harshest environments on our Earth and still cannot adequately protect itself from the conditions humans have caused.
Something that I think was missing in the discourse surrounding climate change up until recently is the lack of concern for the rate at which climate change happens. Climate change is causing systems such as the weather to change rapidly. To humans, a sudden drop in temperature by a couple degrees is not a big deal, but for species that depend on a fairly stable environment, it can be life or death.
Arctic animals have always interested me; they somehow thrive and live in some of the most brutal environments on Earth, and yet are some of the most vulnerable species on the planet and are some of the most popular faces of the movement to stop climate change. What we can learn from the story of this species that is relevant to the broader biodiversity crisis is that non-human species are continually being “caught off guard” by rapidly changing climate conditions; most species rely on their instincts to keep them alive, but what can they do when their instincts are no longer serving them, but are rather putting them in danger? I personally think that thousands of species being “caught off guard” and thus rapidly declining and causing a global biodiversity crisis is proof that there is something terribly wrong with the way our planet’s systems are operating and thus are not acting “naturally” at all.
Megan Sussman | December 2017
“Those don’t exist!” is often what I heard growing up, from both adults and other kids, when I gave the answer to what my favorite animal was. I am often not surprised at the lack of awareness surrounding the narwhal’s existence; they are a species reminiscent of unicorns and are often portrayed as fairytale creatures.
Narwhals definitely exist, there are roughly 10,000 to 45,000 of them living in the arctic coastal waters of our planet and during the summer they migrate to ice-free waters in order to congregate into larger groups. They are very vocal with each other and communicate through clicks, squeals, and whistles. Narwhals are considered whales and are in the same familial classification as Beluga whales. They are carnivorous mammals and can range from 13 to 20 feet in size.
Perhaps the most distinctive feature of the narwhal—and the reason it drew my attention as a kid—is its tusk, which can be up to 8.8 feet long. Although both sexes of the narwhal grow tusks, it is the male that grows the famous “unicorn horn” that is so well known. This “tusk” is actually one of two teeth that they grow and scientists are not one-hundred percent sure on the purpose of this prominent tooth. Some have theorized that it is used for mating rituals and is displayed to impress females and battle other suitors. What scientists are sure of is that this large tooth is NOT used for hunting, rather narwhals create a “vacuum” and suck up their food. Their diet consists of fish, shrimp, and squids and they can dive up to 1500 meters deep and stay under water for 7-25 minutes.
One threat narwhals experience is entanglement in fishing nets; after becoming free from a fishing net, narwhals will often dive deep at an extreme rate because of human-induced stress. When they dive this fast and deep their heart rates plummet, almost as if they are trying to “freeze and flee”. According to a scientist from University of California, Santa Cruz, this is not a response that is usually observed when narwhals are faced with other threats, such as being pursued by a killer whale. It was observed that a narwhal’s heart rate decreased from a normal sixty beats per minute, to only three to four beats per minute after becoming free from a fishing net. As a result, this can restrict blood flow to the brain and can cause confusion and result in deadly consequences, such as beaching.
Another threat, which directly comes from climate change, is the increase in the number of “entrapments” that narwhals experience. Entrapments occur when sudden shifts in wind or drops in temperature cause openings in the ice to rapidly freeze over. Entrapments are a natural occurrence in the Arctic, but recently rapid change in weather has increased due to climate change. This can often lead narwhals to be caught off guard and travel to areas that are not safe to travel to because of rapidly changing sea ice conditions. Entrapments can cause hundreds of narwhals to become stranded and fight and squeeze together into one opening so that they can breathe, this can cause them to suffocate and die while fighting for a place.
Because narwhals live in such an isolated environment, they are vulnerable to disturbances of any kind. Up until recently (relative from the time the species has existed), narwhals were very isolated from human activity until activities such as resource extraction, shipping routes, and anthropogenic climate change began affecting them. Because of anthropogenic activities, the narwhal’s conservation status is listed as “near threatened”. Increasingly narwhals, along with other species, are disappearing because of conditions they did not cause and cannot control. The narwhal lives in one of the harshest environments on our Earth and still cannot adequately protect itself from the conditions humans have caused.
Something that I think was missing in the discourse surrounding climate change up until recently is the lack of concern for the rate at which climate change happens. Climate change is causing systems such as the weather to change rapidly. To humans, a sudden drop in temperature by a couple degrees is not a big deal, but for species that depend on a fairly stable environment, it can be life or death.
Arctic animals have always interested me; they somehow thrive and live in some of the most brutal environments on Earth, and yet are some of the most vulnerable species on the planet and are some of the most popular faces of the movement to stop climate change. What we can learn from the story of this species that is relevant to the broader biodiversity crisis is that non-human species are continually being “caught off guard” by rapidly changing climate conditions; most species rely on their instincts to keep them alive, but what can they do when their instincts are no longer serving them, but are rather putting them in danger? I personally think that thousands of species being “caught off guard” and thus rapidly declining and causing a global biodiversity crisis is proof that there is something terribly wrong with the way our planet’s systems are operating and thus are not acting “naturally” at all.