Are Narwhals Real? The Arctic Whale Behind the Unicorn Myth

Yes, narwhals are real whales

The narwhal (Monodon monoceros) has been known to Arctic peoples for thousands of years and was given its scientific name by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. The name means “one tooth, one horn.” Adults are about 3–5.5 m (10–18 ft) long, not counting the tusk, and weigh roughly 800–1,600 kg (1,800–3,500 lb).

Narwhals are not rare in the sense of being close to extinction. The IUCN estimated about 170,000 of them in 2017, and the species is listed as Least Concern. Most live in Baffin Bay and the channels of the Canadian Arctic, and scientists study them every year with aerial surveys, satellite tags and underwater microphones.

Their closest living relative is the beluga whale. Narwhals and belugas are the only members of the family Monodontidae, and a skull found in West Greenland around 1990 turned out, after a DNA study in 2019, to belong to a narwhal-beluga hybrid.

Why do people think narwhals are mythical?

It is easy to see why so many people ask whether narwhals are real:

• They look like a fantasy creature. A whale with a single, straight, spiraled horn on its head seems more like a cartoon than a real animal.
• They live far from most people. Narwhals stay in remote Arctic waters, often under sea ice, far from big cities and tourist beaches.
• They are not in aquariums. Narwhals have never survived for long in captivity, so almost nobody has seen one in person.
• They appear with unicorns. Toys, books and cartoons often show narwhals as “unicorns of the sea,” side by side with mythical creatures.

How narwhal tusks became unicorn horns

Unicorn stories are older than Europe’s knowledge of narwhals. Ancient Greek writers described a one-horned animal from India, and the unicorn became a popular symbol of purity and power in medieval Europe. What the legend lacked was physical proof, and narwhal tusks filled that gap.

From the Middle Ages onward, Norse traders brought walrus ivory and narwhal tusks south from Greenland and the Arctic. Sold without any description of the whale they came from, the tusks were presented as the horns of unicorns. People believed powdered “unicorn horn” could detect or cure poison, and cups made from it were thought to protect drinkers.

The tusks became some of the most valuable objects in Europe, said to be worth many times their weight in gold. Royal families kept them in their treasuries. The coronation throne of the Danish kings, made in the 17th century, was built largely from narwhal tusk, and Queen Elizabeth I of England reportedly received a tusk brought back from an Arctic voyage in the 1570s.

When did people learn the truth?

As European whalers and explorers reached the Arctic, more people saw the animals that carried these “horns.” In 1638, the Danish physician and naturalist Ole Worm gave a public lecture showing that unicorn horns were in fact narwhal teeth. By the end of the 1600s, belief in the healing powers of unicorn horn had faded, and the price of narwhal tusks fell.

Today we know the tusk is the narwhal’s left upper canine, which grows through the upper lip of most males and can reach 1.5–3 m (5–10 ft). Read more in What is a narwhal tusk?

Narwhal facts that sound made up

Even without the unicorn legend, narwhals are remarkable animals:

• They have almost no teeth in their mouths. Narwhals swallow fish and squid whole, probably by suction.
• Their tusk is full of nerves. Researchers estimate it holds millions of nerve endings and may sense the water around it.
• They dive about a mile deep. In winter, narwhals regularly dive to about 1,500 m (4,900 ft) under the sea ice, and the deepest recorded dives go beyond 1.6 km (1 mile).
• They can live for a century. Eye-lens studies suggest some narwhals live well past 80 years, and one female was estimated at about 115.
• Their name means “corpse whale.” It comes from Old Norse, possibly because their mottled skin looked like that of a drowned sailor.

Where can you see narwhals today?

Narwhals can only be seen in the wild, in the high Arctic. The most reliable place is northern Baffin Island in Nunavut, Canada, where local guides take visitors to the floe edge, the boundary between land-fast ice and open water, near communities such as Pond Inlet and Arctic Bay. The best time is usually June, when narwhals migrate along the ice edge toward their summer bays.

Narwhals are also seen in parts of northwest and east Greenland and, much more rarely, around Svalbard. Sightings are never guaranteed, and responsible tours keep their distance so that the whales are not disturbed. For a full picture of their range, see Where do narwhals live?