The ‘sea unicorn’ is an evolutionary anomaly. What few know is that the narwhal’s iconic ‘horn’ is actually a tooth, shaped ...

Katie has a PhD in maths, specializing in the intersection of dynamical systems and number theory. She reports on topics from ...

For centuries, the purpose of a narwhal’s tusk has eluded explanation. Now, researchers suggest that these small whales use their tusks as sensory organs and speculate that sensing changes in seawater ...

The narwhal's spiraling tusk has a way of hypnotizing those who study it. The 17th-century Danish zoologist Olaus Wörm, for example, grew fascinated with these ivory spars, struggling to unveil their ...

James Deutsch | Senior Content Coordinator, Smithsonian’s America at 250 Book Project Marine biologists may be able to tell us why the narwhal has a distinctive spiraling tusk, but their scientific ...