The first time most people hear about narwhals, they assume that they aren’t real creatures. With their long horn (which is actually a tooth), the description almost sounds like a unicorn of the ocean, so it is understandable that some people don’t believe in them.

Narwhals are quite real, and a new study that was published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science has helped researchers to learn a lot more about what these whales use that impressive horn for.

The researchers come from Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans as well as Florida Atlantic University. The team worked with Inuit communities who live in Nunavut, which is located in Canada’s High Arctic region.

Using drones, they were able to capture extensive footage of narwhals in the wild, and document how their horn was used.

Surprisingly, they were able to identify 17 distinct behaviors, including several that had not previously been documented.

Greg O’Corry-Crowe is the senior study author and works as a research professor at Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch. He put out a statement about what they saw:

“Our observations provide clear evidence of narwhals chasing fish and using their tusks to interact directly with the fish and to influence the fish’s behavior. Some of the interactions we saw appeared competitive in nature with one whale blocking or trying to block another whale’s access to the same target fish, while others may have been more subtle, possibly communicative and even affiliative. None appeared overtly aggressive.”

Some of the documented uses of the horn included things like:

• Hunting – The narwhals used their horn to stun fish so that they could eat them.
• Defending their Meal – When birds would try to eat the fish they had stunned or killed, the narwhals would use their horn to push them away.
• Probing the Environment – The researchers propose that their horn may be able to detect changes in things like salinity or temperature, allowing the narwhals to probe the environment to determine where to best hunt or engage in other activities.
• Play – Surprisingly, the narwhals seem to use the horn to play. They were seen ‘poking’ at fish without attempting to stun, kill, or eat them.
• Tusking – This is where two or more narwhals pushed their tusk out of the water vertically, likely in a display of dominance or a mating ritual, though that is not confirmed.

It is clear that the narwhal tusk is much more than just an evolutionary anomaly that serves no purpose. It is an essential part of their makeup and used for all sorts of things, many of which were quite unexpected.

The more that can be learned about them, the better since their arctic home continues to warm, which may mean they need to adapt to the changes in the future.

Check out narwhal behavior in this interesting video:

I just want to see them sword-fight.

Thought that was fascinating? Here’s another story you might like: Why You’ll Never See A Great White Shark In An Aquarium