Narwhals can live up to 50 years [ inconsistent] and often die by suffocation after being trapped due to the formation of sea ice. Other causes of death, specifically among young whales, are starvation and predation by orcas. As previous estimates of the world narwhal population were below 50,000, narwhals are categorised by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as " nearly threatened". More recent estimates list higher populations (upwards of 170,000), thus lowering the status to " least concern". [4] Narwhals have been harvested for hundreds of years by Inuit in northern Canada and Greenland for meat and ivory and a regulated subsistence hunt continues. The name of the species derives from the Old Norse word nar, which means corpse. This is a reference to the animal’s pale skin. An alternative name for the species is narwhale or narwhal. Humans hunt narwhals; narwhal products traded commercially include the skin, carved vertebrae, teeth and tusk, and the meat. About 1,000 narwhals per year are killed, 600 in Canada and 400 in Greenland. Canadian harvests were steady at this level in the 1970s, dropped to 300–400 per year in the late 1980s and 1990s and rose again since 1999. Greenland harvested more, 700–900 per year, in the 1980s and 1990s. [55] Another concern relating to changing sea ice cover is that loss of sea ice, particularly during the summer, may increase the access of killer whales to narwhals, thus increasing predation. Access to narwhals by man is also changing with changes in sea ice concentration and extent. In Smith Sound, climate change has decreased spring and summer ice cover, which has enabled people in North Greenland to access the area and increase their catches (Nielsen 2009). The presence of open water is an important influence on the narwhal hunt, with the majority (72%) of the hunt in Nunavut taking place during the summer months (25th July–1st October) (White 2012). Westbury, Michael V.; Petersen, Bent; Garde, Eva; Heide-Jørgensen, Mads Peter; Lorenzen, Eline D. (31 May 2019). "Narwhal Genome Reveals Long-Term Low Genetic Diversity despite Current Large Abundance Size". iScience. 15: 592–599. Bibcode: 2019iSci...15..592W. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2019.03.023. ISSN 2589-0042. PMC 6546971. PMID 31054839.

Heide-Jørgensen, M. P.; Reeves, R. R. (July 1993). "Description of an Anomalous Monodontid Skull from West Greenland: A Possible Hybrid?". Marine Mammal Science. 9 (3): 258–268. doi: 10.1111/j.1748-7692.1993.tb00454.x. Narwhals get their scientific name from the Greek word for one horn, though some narwhals have two! a b c Shepard, Odell (2013). The Lore of the Unicorn. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. p.176. ISBN 978-1-4565-6952-5. Surveys of narwhals in spring at the Scoresby Sound polynia will be conducted in May 2022 and a survey of narwhal abundance along East Greenland (including Scoresby Sound and south to Umivik) is also planned for August 2022. NORWAY

E. T. Newton. 1891. The vertebrata of the Pliocene deposits of Britain. Memoirs of the Geological Survey of the United Kingdom". Memoirs of the Geological Survey, Great Britain. 1891. Specific issues that affect narwhals include poaching and overfishing, but the topic is not as straightforward as you might think. Whaling Threatens Narwhals Commercial fisheries threaten the existence of much marine life, including the unicorns of the sea. Wittig, Lars (18 June 2016). "Meta population modelling of narwhals in East Canada and West Greenland – 2017". bioRxiv 10.1101/059691. Laidre, K.L., Heide-Jørgensen, M.P., Ermold, W. and Steele, M. (2010). Narwhals document continued warming of southern Baffin Bay. Journal of Geophysical Research, 115, C10049. https://doi.org/10.1029/2009JC005820

In management area 3 – Tasiilaq, south of 67°N – the population model also estimated a small depleted aggregation (down to 25% of the historical population estimate). This aggregation was also considered so small that it could not sustainable any current removals (NAMMCO 2019a,b). Linnaeus, C (1758). Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata (in Latin). Holmiae. (Laurentii Salvii). p.824.Laidre, K. L.; Heide-Jørgensen, M. P. (2005). "Arctic sea ice trends and narwhal vulnerability" (PDF). Biological Conservation. 121 (2005): 509–517. doi: 10.1016/j.biocon.2004.06.003. ISSN 0006-3207. Gautier, D.L., Bird, K.J., Charpentier, R.R., Grantz, A., Houseknecht, D.W., Klett, T.R., Moore, T.E., Pitman, J.K., Schenk, C.J., Schuenemeyer, J.H., Sørensen, K., Tennyson, M.E., Valin, Z.C. and Wandrey, C.J. (2009). Assessment of Undiscovered Oil and Gas in the Arctic. Science, 324(5931), 1175–1179. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1169467 North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission (NAMMCO). (2010). Report of the Joint Meeting of the NAMMCO Scientific Committee Working Group and the JCNB scientific Working Group on the Population Status of Narwhal and Beluga in the North Atlantic. In: NAMMCO Annual Report 2009, pp. 338-410. https://nammco.no/topics/annual-reports/ Heide-Jørgensen, M.P., Sinding, M.H., Nielsen, N.H., Rosing-Asvid, A. and Hansen, R.G. (2016). Large numbers of marine mammals winter in the North Water polynya. Polar Biology, 39(9), 1605-1614. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-015-1885-7

Monodon monoceros". Fisheries and Aquaculture Department: Species Fact Sheets. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Archived from the original on 16 February 2012 . Retrieved 20 November 2007. Abundance surveys provide important information on the size of the population and the trends over time. The last aerial surveys for narwhals in Greenland were carried out in 2019 in Inglefield Bredning and Melville Bay in Northwest Greenland. Aerial surveys for narwhals in East Greenland were planned for the area around Ittoqqortoormitt in the spring of 2020, but have been postponed to 2022 due to COVID-19.

Narwhal tusks

Narwhals have a very long and robust life expectancy. It is estimated that they can live up to 50 years in the wild. The age of sexual maturity is not quite known, but it is likely to take up to nine years for males. The female conceives every two to three years on average, which ensures a constant supply of new calves. Population Summer surveys were carried out in parts of the Greenland Sea in August/September 2017. There were 15 sightings of narwhal during this survey, concentrated in the coastal area north of Dove Bay, but this has not generated an abundance estimate. Surveys were also carried out in Dove Bay in August/September 2017 and September 2018, both of which indicated a high density of animals. Minimum abundance of individuals summering in Dove Bay was estimated as being 1,100 animals in 2017 and 700 in 2018, (fully corrected estimates = 2,297 and 1,395 animals respectively) (Hansen et al. 2019). Due to the late ice break up in Dove Bay in 2018 (only a few days prior to survey), it is possible that individuals that spent the summer in the Bay the year before were further offshore or even relocated to another fjord system that was ice free at the time of the 2018 survey.

Narwhals are one of the many species of mammals that are threatened by human actions. [59] Estimates of the world population of narwhals range from around 50,000 (from 1996) [38] to around 170,000 (compilation of various sub-population estimates from the years 2000–2017). [4] They are considered to be near threatened [ inconsistent] and several sub-populations have evidence of decline. In an effort to support conservation, the European Union established an import ban on tusks in 2004 and lifted it in 2010. The United States has forbidden imports since 1972 under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. [59] Narwhals are difficult to keep in captivity. [28] Male narwhal captured and satellite tagged At times, a bull narwhal may rub its tusk with another bull, a display known as "tusking" [28] [36] and thought to maintain social dominance hierarchies. [36] However, this behaviour may exhibit tusk use as a sensory and communication organ for sharing information about water chemistry sensed in tusk microchannels. [27] [28] MigrationHeide-Jørgensen, M.P. and E. Garde. (2011). Fetal growth of narwhals ( Monodon monoceros). Marine Mammal Science 27(3): 659-664. DOI:10:1111/j.1748-7692.2010.00423.x Narwhals normally congregate in groups of about five to ten and sometimes up to 20 individuals outside the summer. Groups may be "nurseries" with only females and young, or can contain only post-dispersal juveniles or adult males ("bulls"), but mixed groups can occur at any time of year. [15] In the summer, several groups come together, forming larger aggregations which can contain from 500 to over 1,000 individuals. [15] North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission (NAMMCO). (2013).. Report of the NAMMCO JCNB Joint Working Group on Narwhal and Beluga in the North Atlantic. In: NAMMCO Annual Report 2012. North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission, Tromsø, Norway, pp. 323-391. https://nammco.no/topics/annual-reports/ Use your vote to support political leaders who prioritize conservation and sustainability. The unicorns of the sea will thank you!