Behold , the sea unicorn . Before the Age of Discovery , most Europeans know small of the non - human creatures that shared their planet . People still believed that unicorns – those of the equine diversity – existed , and the Vikings capitalized on the myth by butcher sea unicorns in the North Atlantic and sell their ivory to wealthy Europeans , who were none the judicious about the con .
Unlike terrestrial unicorn , sea unicorns actually live , only today we cognize them as narwal . It was n’t until 1577 that an English IE named Martin Frobisher put down eye on them . In the intervening twelvemonth , we ’ve learned a plenty about the horned whales , but we still do n’t know very much about why their faces have long , pointy swords attached to them . Here ’s what we do know : their automobile horn are not horns at all , but overgrown teeth .
Above : Narwhal sketch by Pearson Scott Foresman , public domain . ( Source )
At the National Geographic Phenomena web log , Carl Zimmerdiscusses several of the hypothesesfor the evolutionary origins of the narwhal ’s abnormally long tooth :
The ideas scientists have put forrader over the year have been legion . The list let in – but is not limited to – an acoustic probe , a means for coldcock supererogatory heat energy , a rudder , an ice - selector , and a spear for battle predator or perhaps other narwhals . Most of those idea emerged not from closelipped observation but speculation . The narwhal live in remote Arctic fjords and disappear for the wintertime under the ice . They do not make it easy for scientists to see them use their tusk for anything at all .
Now , a mathematical group of investigator from Harvard , the Smithsonian , the University of Minnesota , Fisheries and Oceans Canada , and elsewhere have channel an experimentation with wild narwhals to see whether their tusks might be sensory organs . One hint that this might be the case is that , unlike our teeth , they ’re not coated with enamel . rather , they seem explicitly design to bring saltwater tight to the brass finish within .
To see if the Monodon monoceros used this intricate physique to sense their environment , Nweeia and his colleagues captured live narwal off of Baffin Island and slide a conical jacket over their tusks . The scientist then pumped water into the crownwork , either with a high or a low level of salt . Electrodes that Nweeia ’s squad put on the pelt of the narwhals measured their philia charge per unit through the experimentation , which only lasted less than half an hour per animal .
They constitute that the narwhals ’ heart rate changed according to the salinity of the water their tusks were expose to . Could narwhals use their ivory as sensory probes , perhaps to identify potential spouse , or to track down their friends or family line ?
Nweeia and his co-worker intimate that the male may use it to sense matter that can help them win mate . They may be able to dog down distaff narwhale by sampling the chemicals in the water , searching for the ones find where the female feed . They might even be able to sense whether female are receptive for copulate from the chemicals they release . Some Male might be able-bodied to use their tusk to find food for thought for new-sprung sura . Male with more sore tusks would have better luck at reproducing than others , and that difference would ram the phylogenesis of the wildly elongated ivory .
That the tusks only grow on male already hints atsexual selectionas the mechanics behind their evolution . But this enquiry suggests they ’re more than decoration ( like the peacock ’s fag end ) and more than a weapon ( like a cervid ’s antlers ) . Whether they ab initio evolved as a sensory organ though , or if that power came later , is still indecipherable , specially since males have been keep “ tusking , ” while nearby female person look on . The tusks plausibly serve multiple design in a narwhal ’s daily struggle for survival ; we may never hump how the narwhal stick its tusk in the first position .
https://gizmodo.com/if-you-watch-only-one-video-about-a-detachable-penis-m-1545884189
The intact mail service is awesome . Head on over to Phenomena to study the whole thing .
Animals
Daily Newsletter
Get the upright tech , scientific discipline , and culture news in your inbox daily .
News from the future tense , delivered to your present .
You May Also Like
