Narwhals may be using their tusks to play, new study finds
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Scientists say they have the first recorded video evidence of narwhals using tusks not only to strike and manipulate fish during feeding but also engage in what appears to be playful behavior, according to the latest research.

The narwhal, often referred to as the “unicorn of the sea” in a nod to its trademark tusk, has long remained an enigma. Scientists have observed few interactions of narwhals in their natural habitat, creating speculation about the purpose of the species’ distinctive spiraling tusk.
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Found predominantly in males, the tusk grows up to 10 feet (3 meters) long — and previous research has suggested it serves as a competitive display to secure mates. But now, with the help of drones, research conducted in the Canadian High Arctic has uncovered that a narwhal may use its tusk for more than just courtship.

In total, the researchers newly identified and described 17 distinct behaviors of narwhals involving prey. The findings revealed a wide range of interactions and dynamics between narwhals and fish as well as the extraordinary agility, precision and speed of their tusks to track moving targets, according to the study published February 27 in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science.

“Seeing that these animals are not actually hunting the fish but exploring, manipulating and interacting with it was really a game changer,” said lead author Dr. Gregory O’Corry-Crowe, a research professor in the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute at Florida Atlantic University.

Since so little is understood about this whale species, researchers like O’Corry-Crowe and his colleagues are working diligently to conduct studies to document narwhals’ unknown behaviors to better understand how these animals adapt in a rapidly shifting habitat as oceans warm and sea ice melts.
Narwhal exploratory behavior
The study team captured the groundbreaking footage using drones in Creswell Bay, on the eastern side of Somerset Island in Canada’s Nunavut territory, during the summer of 2022.

As the researchers analyzed the footage, they noticed subtle nuances in the narwhals’ behavior. Footage even captured one instance of a narwhal interacting with a fish by repeatedly nudging it with its tusk — which is actually a giant tooth — without attempting to eat it.

When researchers observed a lack of aggression in some interactions between narwhals and fish, they realized these scenarios were more similar to a cat-and-mouse game, in which the animals were chasing or “playing” rather than hunting, O’Corry-Crowe said.

Curiosity has maintained pristine pieces of the Cumberland sample in a “doggy bag” so that the team could have the rover revisit it later, even miles away from the site where it was collected. The team developed and tested innovative methods in its lab on Earth before sending messages to the rover to try experiments on the sample.
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In a quest to see whether amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, existed in the sample, the team instructed the rover to heat up the sample twice within SAM’s oven. When it measured the mass of the molecules released during heating, there weren’t any amino acids, but they found something entirely unexpected.

An intriguing detection
The team was surprised to detect small amounts of decane, undecane and dodecane, so it had to conduct a reverse experiment on Earth to determine whether these organic compounds were the remnants of the fatty acids undecanoic acid, dodecanoic acid and tridecanoic acid, respectively.

The scientists mixed undecanoic acid into a clay similar to what exists on Mars and heated it up in a way that mimicked conditions within SAM’s oven. The undecanoic acid released decane, just like what Curiosity detected.

Each fatty acid remnant detected by Curiosity was made with a long chain of 11 to 13 carbon atoms. Previous molecules detected on Mars were smaller, meaning their atomic weight was less than the molecules found in the new study, and simpler.
“It’s notable that non-biological processes typically make shorter fatty acids, with less than 12 carbons,” said study coauthor Dr. Amy Williams, associate professor of geology at the University of Florida and assistant director of the Astraeus Space Institute, in an email. “Larger and more complex molecules are likely what are required for an origin of life, if it ever occurred on Mars.”

A long time in the making
Curiosity landed in Gale Crater on August 6, 2012. More than 12 years later, the rover has driven over 21 miles (34 kilometers) to ascend Mount Sharp, which is within the crater. The feature’s many layers preserve millions of years of geological history on Mars, showing how it shifted from a wet to a dry environment.
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Perhaps one of the most valuable samples Curiosity has gathered on its mission to understand whether Mars was ever habitable was collected in May 2013.

The rover drilled the Cumberland sample from an area within a crater called Yellowknife Bay, which resembled an ancient lake bed. The rocks from Yellowknife Bay so intrigued Curiosity’s science team that it had the rover drive in the opposite direction to collect samples from the area before heading to Mount Sharp.
Since collecting the Cumberland sample, Curiosity has used SAM to study it in a variety of ways, revealing that Yellowknife Bay was once the site of an ancient lake where clay minerals formed in water. The mudstone created an environment that could concentrate and preserve organic molecules and trapped them inside the fine grains of the sedimentary rock.

Freissinet helped lead a research team in 2015 that was able to identify organic molecules within the Cumberland sample.

The instrument detected an abundance of sulfur, which can be used to preserve organic molecules; nitrates, which are essential for plant and animal health on Earth; and methane composed of a type of carbon associated with biological processes on Earth.

“There is evidence that liquid water existed in Gale Crater for millions of years and probably much longer, which means there was enough time for life-forming chemistry to happen in these crater-lake environments on Mars,” said study coauthor Daniel Glavin, senior scientist for sample return at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, in a statement.

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