June 1st, 2009 | By Nora Sawyer | Filed in Arctic Animals, IN THE NEWS

Narwhals frolic for Ushuaia cameramen on an Arctic Kingdom-led expedition in 2004

This week, in honor of Arctic Kingdom’s upcoming expeditions to Lancaster Sound, I’m going to be looking at one of the sound’s most elusive creatures: the narwhal. Every day, I’ll post photos of narwhals from Arctic Kingdom’s galleries and photo archives, along with whatever narwhal news and information I can get my hands on.

To kick things off, I spent the morning enjoying “In Search of the Mysterious Narwhal” from Smithsonian Magazine’s May issue, which provides a glimpse into the lives of scientists studying and tracking narwhal in Niaqornat, Greenland. Writer Abigail Tucker describes the collaboration of local fisherman and scientists to tag and release a narwhal:

To catch a unicorn, it is said, you need virgins for bait; to net a narwhal, and transfer it from ocean to beach and back again, a bunkhouse of cowboys would be handier. The whale bucked like a bronco as the hunters, led by one of Laidre’s technicians, pinned a transmitter, about the size of a bar of soap, to the dorsal ridge. When at last the tag was secure, the technician was so relieved he smooched the animal’s broad back. Then they walked it out with the tide and let it go. One of the hunters had videotaped the entire frothy episode on his cellphone; a year later, the villagers still watched it raptly.

“Kusanaq,” Heide-Jorgensen told the hunters. “Beautiful. A great collaboration. This time we’ll move the tag back a little and also put on a tusk transmitter.”

In addition to the transmitter, the article reports that ballet dancer turned arctic biologist Kristin Laidre has been attaching temperature sensors to captured narwhal.

One morning in Niaqornat, she received an e-mail with an analysis of water temperature data collected by 15 tagged narwhals from 2005 to 2007. Compared with historical information from icebreakers, the readings showed warming of a degree or more in the depths of Baffin Bay.

Narwhal are tremendously sensitive to climate change. They rely on the sea ice to keep them safe from killer whales, whose dorsal fin prevents them from accessing breathing holes in the ice, and for the sheltered hunting ground that ice provides (uniquely suited for hunting beneath the ice, narwhals gorge on Greenlandic halibut in the winter time). With temperatures rising, the loss of dense ice imperils the narwhal’s way of life, putting the entire species in danger.

Read the full article: Smithsonian Magazine: In Search of the Mysterious Narwhal.

Arctic Kingdom trip participants photograph narwhal in Lancaster Sound

Swim with narwhal and beluga in Lancaster Sound! Contact us today and find out how you can join the adventure.

Tags: arctic, baffin bay, Kristin Laidre, lancaster sound, narwhal, narwhal week, Niaqornat, smithsonian