Narwhals (tusked whales)
Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2007 12:12 am
Is anyone familiar with these whales?
I find them really fascinating.
Narwhal is supposed to mean "corpse whale" as it tends to swim stomach side up.
The narwhals have a long spiral tooth growing through their upper lip, or a "tusk" rather, that is of ivory and measures about nine feet long.
Their location is West Greenland to mideastern Canada.
Length: 10-20 ft.
Weight: 1 ton
Color: White and green and brown spotted.
How do arctic people benefit from the narwhal?
In some times and areas, there people entire existence depended on them. They burn the oil because it is good quality and doesn’t smoke. They feed the meat to their sled dogs while they eat the skin which tastes like seafood and is high in vitamin C. In the past the tusk has been used for tools, but now it can be sold for up to $4,500. It is illegal to import whale products into the United States so the tusks are often sold to Eurasian countries.
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I once saw a photo of an 18th or 19th Century four-poster style bed, that had four very tall, spiral narwhal tusks as the bedposts. It was actually very elegant and cool looking except that the narwhals most probably were killed for the tusks to make the bed.
Attached files
I find them really fascinating.
Narwhal is supposed to mean "corpse whale" as it tends to swim stomach side up.
The narwhals have a long spiral tooth growing through their upper lip, or a "tusk" rather, that is of ivory and measures about nine feet long.
Their location is West Greenland to mideastern Canada.
Length: 10-20 ft.
Weight: 1 ton
Color: White and green and brown spotted.
How do arctic people benefit from the narwhal?
In some times and areas, there people entire existence depended on them. They burn the oil because it is good quality and doesn’t smoke. They feed the meat to their sled dogs while they eat the skin which tastes like seafood and is high in vitamin C. In the past the tusk has been used for tools, but now it can be sold for up to $4,500. It is illegal to import whale products into the United States so the tusks are often sold to Eurasian countries.
******
I once saw a photo of an 18th or 19th Century four-poster style bed, that had four very tall, spiral narwhal tusks as the bedposts. It was actually very elegant and cool looking except that the narwhals most probably were killed for the tusks to make the bed.
Attached files