8-Foot-Long Tusk Lets Narwhal Test the Waters
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
The narwhal’s mysterious spiral tusk is a giant sensor that can test water, a U.S. researcher said Tuesday at a marine mammal conference in San Diego.
The whale’s 8-foot-long tusk has 10 million nerve connections to the outer surface that can detect changes in water temperature, pressure and salinity, said Harvard University researcher Martin Nweeia.
Nweeia’s team also noted that narwhal males often rub tusks; they said this probably created a “unique sensation.”
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