The "one-horned monster" in the Classic of Mountains and Seas is actually an elf swimming in the cold sea water?

The Classic of Mountains and Seas records: "There is a beast in Dai Mountain, it looks like a horse, one of its horns is crooked, and its name is Quán Shu ."

There is also a similar mythical beast in Western mythology. It has a long horn on its head, which is the legendary "unicorn".

(Figure 1: 䑏疏 | "Classic of Mountains and Seas"; Figure 2: The Unicorn in Captivity | Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Whether in the East or the West, ancient people had similar imaginations about creatures with long horns on their heads. So are there really creatures with horns on their heads in reality?

(Narwhal | Yandex)

Narwhal [1] (scientific name: Monodon monoceros) belongs to the genus Monoceros of the family Monoceros. It is distributed in the northernmost part of the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic Ocean. It likes to live in groups, has no teeth in its mouth, no dorsal fin, and a rounded and slightly raised head. It is 4 to 4.5 meters long and weighs 0.8 to 1.6 tons. The tail of an adult is composed of two connected semicircles. The most obvious difference between most male and female narwhals is that the male has a "horn" on the left side of its head that is 2 to 3 meters long. It makes a variety of sounds (such as whistles, screams, trills, and clicks) to communicate with each other, locate prey, and warn predators.

(Narwhal Family | sohu)

The narwhal calf is black-gray all over; the belly of the adult whale changes from gray to milky white and finally to silver-white, and the back has black or dark red patches on a gray background; the old whale is almost completely white.

(Almost white old narwhal | Yandex)

In fact, the long thing sticking out of the narwhal's head is not its horn . From a scientific point of view, it is a specialized tooth on the upper left , which passes through the upper lip and grows forward in a clockwise spiral. It is called a tusk. Usually adult male narwhals have tusks, and 15% of female narwhals also grow tusks. Narwhal larvae do not have tusks. Occasionally, a very small number of male narwhals grow two tusks on both sides, and people have even found a female narwhal with two tusks.

(Double-tusked narwhal skeleton | Yandex)

The surface of a narwhal's tusk appears to be extremely hard, but in fact, except for the hard tip, the middle and tail parts of the tusk are hollow and relatively fragile . In order to prevent the deep sea water pressure from breaking the tusk, the latter two parts have evolved a special protective structure, which uses the softness of the outermost layer of the tusk to increase elasticity and buffer pressure to increase hardness and protect the tusk [2].

(The hollow structure of a tusk | animalworld)

So what exactly are the functions of a narwhal's tusk?

1. Respiratory protection and hunting tools

Narwhals are mammals that live in the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic Ocean and breathe with lungs. Like other whales, they need to stick their heads out of the sea to breathe. There are floating icebergs in these two seas all year round. To prevent the sea surface from being blocked by ice and unable to breathe, narwhals often use their tusks to break the floating ice , so as to ensure that the breathing holes on the top of their heads can smoothly stick their heads out of the sea to breathe. Therefore, the tusks are a breath protector.

(A narwhal breathing in an ice crack | Frozen Planet, the ice crack in the picture is naturally formed)

It has been observed that in order to catch fish at a distance, narwhals will use the tip of their tusks to pierce the fish to close the distance for predation. If a fish dodges, the narwhal will use its tusks to stun the fish and suck it into its mouth for consumption. Occasionally, it will use its tusks to dig out squid half-hidden in the sand, using them as a hunting tool. Martin Envia, a professor at the Department of Dentistry at Harvard University who has studied narwhal tusks for several years,[3] discovered that when a male narwhal caught a killer whale, it would use its tusks to split the meat from the killer whale's chest in half and give the meat to the female whale and the juvenile whale for consumption.

2. Compete for the favor of the opposite sex and emit sound waves

In order to win the favor of the opposite sex, narwhals will fight to prove themselves, and their tusks are their most effective weapon . In addition, narwhals can use their tusks as antennas , which can receive sound waves from different creatures to determine friend or foe, and can also emit sound waves to the opposite sex to express their feelings[4]. They can also emit sound waves to their prey to confuse their vision and hearing , and attack them when they are not prepared, so as to have a good meal.

(Narwhals living in groups on floating ice | Yandex)

3. A sensory organ

According to Professor Martin’s [3] observations, narwhals from the same family can use the friction of their tusks to communicate with each other . This is because the peripheral nerves of the teeth produce “contact emotions” during contact. Narwhals from the same family can also use their own tusks to brush away the secretions on each other’s teeth.

(Narwhals rubbing their tusks against each other | National Geograpbic)

The latest research shows[5] that narwhal tusks are not as impenetrable as they appear. Instead, they are filled with fine pores and nerve tissue (containing approximately 10 million nerve endings) that can keenly sense changes in water temperature, water pressure, ocean current direction, and living environment. For example, they can determine whether the desired food is available in the waters by sensing changes in the salinity of the seawater.

(Adult narwhal | National Geographic)

Some scholars disagree with the above three statements, because even if most female narwhals do not have tusks, they can still live in the ocean like male narwhals. They believe that the tusks of narwhals are just a visual decoration and a secondary sexual characteristic . The size and thickness of the tusks determine the power status of narwhals in the population [6]. It has been observed that the leader whales of the narwhal family, in addition to being young and strong, all have thick tusks.

While the narwhal's tusk adds a special and mysterious charm to it, it also brings killing.

In the Middle Ages, European princes and nobles used narwhal tusks as a tool to detect poison (similar to the silver needle used in ancient China). According to legend, if tusk powder was added to wine or food, the poison would quickly turn black and bubble, and then the toxicity would disappear along with the tusk powder.[4]

Many years later, scientists revealed the secret of tusks in detecting poisons based on historical records and after experiments: the calcium ions contained in tusks react chemically with poisons, causing the poison to disappear from food.

(ornaments made of tusks)

At the same time, the nobles also used narwhal tusks as a symbol of power , making them into ornaments, wine glasses, scepters and even medicines and antidotes to poisons, which greatly increased the value of the tusks. As a result, narwhals were hunted more frequently, and their numbers decreased significantly, putting them on the verge of extinction.

This is the end of the introduction to the narwhal, which is on the verge of extinction due to overhunting. If we don't take action, this magical "unicorn of the sea" will disappear forever.

References:

[1]. A color illustration of more than 450 mammal species from around the world. China Friendship Publishing House.

[2]. There are unicorns in the ice sea. Journal title: We Love Science.

[3]. Narwhal: A single tooth that conquers the world. Tian Xiaohua. Journal title: Science and Technology Information (Shandong).

[4]. The narwhal, a strange beast in the ice sea. Journal: China Youth Science and Technology.

[5.] Narwhal - the legendary unicorn. Ma Xiaohui. Publication name: Ocean World.

[6]. Arctic narwhal. Mysterious Earth: Marine Animals Column.