Narwhals are one of the world's great oddities.  And now climate researchers are putting them to work! 

Narwhals are native to the icy waters of the Arctic Ocean, one of the hotly contested fronts in climate change science.  Researchers have begun reporting ocean temperature measurements thanks to a transmitter which they affix to narwhals. 

According to the narwhals, the Arctic Ocean's temperatures have risen a full 1 degree Celsius higher than most climate models predicted. 

The narwhals' measuring devices have also shown that the pack ice is between 50 and 80 meters thinner than those same models predicted, indicating that the pack ice is melting faster than scientists originally thought it would.

Narwhals were chosen by the climate researchers because they frequent Baffin Bay in Canada, a huge and animal-rich expanse of water which has proven exceptionally difficult to monitor with scientific instruments.  But where boats filled with climate scientists fear to tread, narwhals dive with impunity.

The narwhals' predilection for deep waters is also useful to the climate studies.  Narwhals often hunt very deep water.  New Scientist reports that the deepest dive recorded during the studies was 1,773 meters.  That's 5,816 feet, over a mile deep.

The researchers capture the narwhals in nets and attach data gathering packs to the animals' dorsal fins.  The data packs are buoyant, and contain a satellite transmitter. 

The narwhal is a toothed whale whose nearest relative is the Beluga whale.  This small mottled gray whale's most obvious feature is a modified incisor tooth, which grows directly forward in what looks, to the casual observer, like a unicorn's horn.  (In fact, the spirally-grooved horns of the narwhal are partly responsible for the myth of the unicorn.)

Narwhal babies are about 5 feet long, and are born without the horn.  The narwhal's horn is a secondary sex characteristic, which is primarily worn by males.  (Some females occasionally grow a horn, but this is rare.)  The horn can grow to almost ten feet long, and is used mainly to signal the animal's gender, age, and health.  Narwhals also occasionally use them to help clear pack ice from the surface so that they can breathe, and for fighting with other males.

Narwhals essentially live beneath the Arctic ice pack.  They feed off the bottom, including various flatfish, cod, and deep-water squids.  Their life beneath the ice caps is secretive and difficult to observe - along with the environment itself.  The whales survive by breathing through narrow leads and small holes in the ice, aided with their horns.

Previous scientific ventures beneath the Arctic ice cap have had to be performed in a submarine.  Even so, these voyages are dangerous, given that a submarine can easily be trapped beneath the ice.  (And problematic from a political point of view.)

Although we know little about the narwhal, its specialized diet makes it vulnerable to shifts in prey populations due to climate issues.  And its preferred habitat, the Arctic ice caps, are obviously in tenuous condition, as well.

Photo credit: Flickr/dinrao