Talk:Narwhal

Diving

There's a typo: far should be "fast." I was going to fix it when I realized the math doesn't work. If it dives at 2 meter/sec for up to 10 minutes, it would only get to 1200 feet. Either the speed or depth is wrong. —Preceding unsigned comment added by [[Special:t--> ity

Range of Habitat

Can we clarify the range - My son and I came across a recently deceased narwhal on the coast of Scotland near Maidens - the body of water there is the Firth of Clyde

Rugbygolfer (talk) 01:46, 22 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

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Template:FAOL

A tusk is a tooth, not a horn, and it is hardly "growing from the forehead". The article seems to be a mixture of zoological and superstitious information.
S.

I added it to my (long) todo list. I am writing articles on species for which we don't have articles at all so far. Then I'll come back and add more to the articles that we were written before we got a framework set up at the project page. Pete/Pcb21 (talk) 12:14, 8 Feb 2004 (UTC)

HornOn: Apply directly to the forehead. HornOn: Apply directly to the forehead. HornOn: Apply directly to the forehead.

Reamfish?

Is it just me or does it seem dubious that this article identifies that Narwhals are called "reamfish" in some parts of the world. What parts would that be? 68.100.78.157 00:40, 1 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Unicorns

Another possible vagueness is this business of the narwhal-as-source-for-unicorn-legend. I'd heard that idea before, certainly, but only raised as a possibility; the article at present states it as definite. Are scholars more resolved on this matter than I thought?Iralith 20:32, 2 Dec 2004 (UTC)

There's a good explanation of the Narwhal/unicorn connection here. --Clay Collier 02:59, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Another source for the Narwhal tusk / unicorn horn connection is:

Daston, Lorraine and Katharine Park. Wonders and the Order of Nature, 1150-1750. New York: Zone Books, 2001: pp. 69,74-75, 77, 88, 108, 331, 333, & 384 n. 14.

Daston and Park show beyond doubt that narwhal tusks WERE believed to be unicorn horns in the Middle Ages. They also write that unicorn horns were believed to counteract many poisons, and these misidentified narwhal tusks were often incorperated in reliquaries or just displayed in their own right in Mediaeval churches.

I'm going to add this unicorn information source to the article, unless anyone else objects, in which case I'll remove it.

Lnbaker104 22:14, 26 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I added the citation, but something with my coding seems to have gone wrong. Someone with more knowledge of wikicode than me should probably take a look at the page now. Sorry about that. If you know what I did wrong, message me and tell me, so I don't make the same mistake again. Thanks.

Lnbaker104 22:39, 26 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Latin name

What is the correct binomial name, the article presents two different spellings? Is it monodon monoceros or monodon monceros?

"Monceros" is a typo. It's "monoceros," per Google, my dictionary, and my sense of the etymology involved. I'll go ahead and change it. Iralith 21:58, 13 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Map caption

The current english caption of the picture reads:

The summer (solid) and winter (striped) distributions of the Narwhal

However, the german caption imprinted into the picture translates as

frequent occurence (solid) and rare occurence of the Narwhale (striped)

Can someone clarify whether this is a mistranslation? The explanation in the text (that the whales leave the coasts during the winter) sounded acceptable for me at first, but given the fact that the striped areas are covered by thick ice during winter I am starting to doubt it. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 128.86.153.129 (talk • contribs) 11:24, 22 May 2005 (UTC)

Altho "Vorkommen" is an unfamiliar word to me, i agree that the second English version above is at least closer to the German, and that the first, from the article, sounds completely unjustified by the German. If it the caption is true (but not a translation), then for the sake of non-confusion, the graphic should be edited to remove the German text.
--Jerzy•t 14:42, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Stop it!

Stop vandalizing the article, whoever you are! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Cff12345 (talk • contribs) 15:19, June 17, 2005 (UTC)

yes, whoever though it would be funny to put that narwhals swim through sand is an idiot, and very disruptive! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.135.130.154 (talk • contribs) 09:03, November 29, 2006 (UTC)

Hi - I'm really new to this, but I saw this stupid "pirate story" about narwhals and I removed it. This was the text:

Once a narwhal stabbed a pirate with its tusk. The pirate survived, and became the 16th century's leading narwhal preservationist. Here is an account from his diary. "the great beast rose out of the water and tossed our boat like a rat nut. I felt the icy chill of the water against my shriveling scrotum. Then, like a splinter through my anal canal, its tusk rammed my anal canal. When I woke up my crew was surrounding me speaking in hushed voices about how I was having a period out my ass. But I had a new respect for the whale, it is a worthy foe, and I believe whole heartedly that we as a people should do all we can to prevent its extinction."

And as funny as a pirate bleeding from the ass is, we all know a pirate would have capitalized the first letter in his great ass-stabbing saga. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Evi1pilotfish (talk • contribs) 14:43, January 18, 2007 (UTC)

wow. coaxial 21:15, 21 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Scientists, using carbon dating, now believe that pirate was actually Dan Culhane

Two-tusk photo

The two-tusk photo no longer appears in the de: article, & has been transferred from de: to Commons. It is unsuitable for the article w/o deeper discussion of the anomaly (and, unless i misread the German commentary that accompanies our copy, of the embryology), and does not obviate the need for a photo, in similar resolution, of the typical case! As it stands, it is confusing. Someone a little more image-savvy than i could surely replace it with the more suitable (tho disappointingly less well lit & i think lower resolution) Two narwhal skulls (now used in the de: article), which says

...Das Bild ist damit gemeinfrei („public domain“). Dies gilt weltweit.

i.e.

...The picture is thereby gemeinfrei (public domain). This holds world-wide.

--Jerzy•t 16:16, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I don't think the two-tusk photo should be there at all. I came for information about typical narwhals, and the photo of a skull of an anomalous one would maybe serve better as just a link in the article or as an image further down in the article. Dave 04:07, 25 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I agree the anomaly should be given less notice. A-giau 17:19, 4 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I'm guessing ththe photo was actually a male skull, since it is both extremely rare for a female to have tusks, and for a male to have two tusks, so a female with two tusks would be incredibly unlikely.- Moshe Constantine Hassan Al-Silverburg | Talk 06:36, 7 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Nevertheless the German description clearly states it is a female skull. The author cites the description in the museum: "All these skulls with two tusks are from male animals, but the skull from Hamburg (i.e. this one) has been prooved to be from a female animal. It therefore is unique." M adler 18:34, 22 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Despite the gender, I think the two-tusk photo should be deleted and an one-tusk photo added. It is better to represent what is usual, not unique. 201.1.51.72 15:43, 10 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

What the-.. I thought all narwhals had two tusks, and they were twisted together into the one horn. If that's not true where the heck did I read it?

Article on narwhals that contradicts some of the wikipedia article

http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20060325/bob9.asp

According to this narwhals have been recorded as diving "almost 1800m". It is a fairly long article but it has a wealth of information about narwhals, so someone more well versed in the wikipedia policies may want to edit the article accordingly if this link is considered credible.

Current vandalism

Maybe someone should remove the vandalism currently in the article. I was unable due to it's protected status. I also don't really know what I'm doing on here. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.45.188.17 (talk) 17:31, January 21, 2007

If you could be more specific, one of us could help. Anyway, put the {{editprotected}} template on this page, specify the vandalism, and someone should be along to help. Patstuart^talk|edits 18:44, 21 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I think the bits being referred to are the 'Headline Text' section which currently reads 'I AM SO COOL', and later on in the article it reads 'TYLER IS WEIRD...TYLER IS WEIRD'. I can't remove them due to the article's protected status. (Philba 13:08, 25 January 2007 (UTC))[reply]

Colbert

Is there a standard Wikipedia policy on this?

I'm sorry, but I don't think that a passing reference on a single episode of "The Colbert Report", however funny the show might be, is justified as an example of "Narwhals in Culture" on the level of Inuit mythology. Mascot of a sports team, fine, I guess. Plot point in a successful movie, fine, I guess. But we don't need to catalogue every throwaway joke on every television show. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 128.63.14.80 (talk) 13:42, 17 April 2007 (UTC).[reply]

tusk regrowth

In this article, the statement was made: "Like the tusks of elephants, narwhal tusks do not regrow if they break off. However if damaged the tusks can repair themselves to a certain extent." However, barring severe damage to the root/soft tissue at their base, the tusks of elephants do grow back. I've got a BS in zoology, and I have worked as a zookeeper with elephants, so please believe me on this point. However, I don't know whether this is true for narwhals so I'm not going to change the statement that theirs do not grow back. I've edited the article to state, "[u]nlike the tusks of elephants, narwhal tusks do not regrow if they break off." Diabolika 03:22, 14 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

More Vandalism

Someone appears to have replaced a variety of names in the article with the name "Clara Tift" - at least, I'm assuming Clara wasn't alive in both 1555 and 2007. FlashbackJon 09:29, 28 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

"Mythical"

"a mythical creature created by the Nordic people" is incorrect. While narwhals are a subject of Nordic myths, they are not imaginary. 66.188.112.239 23:02, 13 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

In a race between a narwhal anda killer whale who would win?

I have heard that narwhals are faster, but if caught unawares, the killer whale will ram and eat the narwhal. Requesting Verification. Tar7arus 13:30, 4 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Is the tusk used for offensive/defensive purposes?

The article indicates some uses for the tusk. However it does not indicate either way whether or not the tusk is used as a weapon. As it is a tooth it seems possible that it would be used in that way as many organisms use their teeth as weapons. However the tusk may be too fragile or valuable to use in that capacity. Does anyone know whether or not the tusk is used for defense or hunting purposes? 216.36.186.2 (talk) 14:17, 15 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]