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The narwhal tusk has been highly sought-after in Europe for centuries. This stems from a medieval belief that narwhal tusks were the horns of the legendary unicorn. According to some theories, Vikings and Greenland Norse began trade of narwhal tusks, which, via European channels, would later reach markets in the Middle East and East Asia.…

Narwhals are hunted for their skin, meat, teeth, tusks and carved vertebrae, which are commercially traded. About 1,000 narwhals are killed per year: 600 in Canada and 400 in Greenland. Canadian catches were steady at this level in the 1970s, dropped to 300–400 per year in the late 1980s and 1990s and have risen again…

The narwhal is listed as a species of least concern by the IUCN Red List. As of 2017, the global population is estimated to be 123,000 mature individuals out of a total of 170,000. There were about 12,000 narwhals in Northern Hudson Bay in 2011, and around 49,000 near Somerset Island in 2013. There are…

Narwhals normally congregate in groups of three to eight—and sometimes up to twenty—individuals. Groups may be “nurseries” with only females and young, or can contain only juveniles or adult males (“bulls”); mixed groups can occur at any time of year. In the summer, several groups come together, forming larger aggregations which can contain 500 to…