Narwhals swim within the waters off Northwest Greenland on this undated handout picture launched on August 18, 2026. Carsten Egevang/Greenland Institute of Pure Sources/Handout by way of REUTERS
| Picture Credit score:
Carsten Egevang/Greenland Institute of Pure Sources
Within the Center Ages, narwhal tusks have been
offered as unicorn horns blessed with magical powers comparable to
neutralizing poisons and curing ailments — prized possessions of
monarchs and nobles price greater than their weight in gold. They
offered no such powers, after all, however even right this moment stay
objects of thriller.
Researchers have now deciphered the interior construction of
these spiral-shaped tusks — truly a straight and elongated
canine tooth that protrudes from a narwhal’s mouth, generally
reaching as much as 10 toes (3 meters) lengthy.
Utilizing superior three-dimensional X-ray imaging, they discovered
that whereas the outside of the tusk, manufactured from dental tissue
referred to as cementum, shows a left-handed spiral, its inside,
manufactured from dental tissue referred to as dentine, displays a right-handed
spiral.
“We suggest that this association helps the tusk develop
straight, not like different tusks — elephant or walrus, for instance —
that curve,” mentioned supplies chemist Henrik Birkedal of Aarhus
College in Denmark, who helped lead the examine printed this
week within the journal Nature Communications.
The overwhelming majority of male narwhals and a small share of
feminine narwhals have considered one of these tusks — a number of males even have
two of them — although their goal stays unclear.
“The tusk might have a number of capabilities. The tusks appear to
perform to determine social hierarchy amongst males, and is
thus a sexually chosen trait used throughout male-male contests.
It has additionally been proposed that the tusk might serve in play and as
a sensory organ,” Birkedal mentioned.
TUSK’S STRUCTURE GIVES IT STABILITY
A Narwhal swims via ice throughout spring migration on this undated file picture. The narwhal’s mysterious spiral tusk works as an enormous sensor to assist it check water qualities and to smooch different narwhals, a U.S. researcher mentioned on December 13, 2005. The whale’s eight-foot (2.4-metre) lengthy tusk has lengthy mystified naturalists and hunters, and the reason could also be equally intriguing, Harvard Faculty of Dental Medication researcher Dr. Martin Nweeia mentioned.
| Picture Credit score: REUTERS/Harvard Medical Faculty/Glenn Williams
Narwhals, which might attain round 17 toes (5 meters) lengthy,
inhabit the frigid waters of the Arctic Ocean, primarily close to
Canada, Greenland, Norway and Russia, and feed on fish, squid
and shrimp. Their colour adjustments with age; they’re born with a
blue-gray hue that turns blue-black of their juvenile years and
mottled grey in maturity, solely to turn out to be practically all white in
outdated age.
The researchers discovered that the large-scale helical construction
of the tusk arises from preparations of mineralized collagen —
an vital protein in bones, tooth and pores and skin — at a microscopic
degree in fibers referred to as fibrils.
“The fibrils are robust and versatile. Within the narwhal tusk,
and in our tooth and bones, the collagen fibrils are bolstered
by nanoparticles of a calcium-mineral to make a robust so-called
composite materials,” Birkedal mentioned.
“The collagen fibrils are aligned nearly parallel to the
lengthy axis of the tusk. Nonetheless, they deviate systematically to
kind two helical patterns, one in cementum and one other in
dentine, with reverse handedness,” Birkedal added.
This double-spiral construction produces a organic
counterbalance through which two opposing forces meet on the level of
contact between inside and exterior components, giving the tusk
useful mechanical properties for stability in opposition to bending
and twisting — superior to a single spiral or a straight rod.
“We predict this will likely act as a supply of inspiration for design
of bioinspired supplies,” Birkedal mentioned.
Whereas unicorns and the magical properties of narwhal tusks
have been mere legend, they have been frequent beliefs centuries in the past.
“The primary scientific depictions are from the mid-1500s
the place a Swedish cartographer drew the narwhal like a fish-like
creature with a horn,” Birkedal mentioned.
Within the 1600s, Birkedal added, “The Danish pure historian
Ole Worm concluded that narwhal and unicorn tusk powders have been
one and the similar, and described skulls of marine unicorns that
resemble narwhals.”
The Coronation Chair of Denmark that was used within the
coronations of Danish monarchs from 1671 to 1840, commissioned
by King Frederik III and now displayed at Rosenborg Fortress in
Copenhagen, was manufactured from narwhal tusks.
“The tusks thus carried nice status,” Birkedal mentioned.
Revealed on August 21, 2026
