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May 10, 2005

Hunt for the Narwhal

When I was about 10 years old, I went on a Narwhal hunt. Obviously not based on any scientific reason, my mom's church sponsored it. An aspiring marine biologist, I spent the evening running around in the dark, in a county park area near the Long Island sound in Branford, Connecticut. Now I find that narwhals, which do exist, only really live in the deep, cold waters of Arctic. An almost mythical creature, narwhals are very much under threat of becoming just that - a myth. Despite some compelling conservation efforts on behalf of marine life like whales and dolphins, they're still being targeted by whalers. Add to that their susceptibility to pollution in the form of chemicals and sewage.

As far as I know now, the only narwhal in Connecticut is the USS NARWHAL (SSN-671), a quiet class of submarines first commissioned in New London, CT.

The narwhal—a small Arctic whale known for its six-foot-long (1.8-meter-long) tusk—has dropped in numbers by an average of 6 percent per year during the last 17 years

More at: Narwhals: Photos Show Decline of "Unicorn" Whales

Posted by sorsha at May 10, 2005 8:37 PM