Sea unicorns-narwhals almost as mysterious as their mythical counterparts. One of the mysteries of the lives of these animals opened by a group of geophysicists of Hokkaido University, headed by Yevgeny Podolsky, who along with hunter-Inuit went in to record the sounds produced by narwhals in Greenland fjord.

However, the main study group of Podolsk was devoted to the sounds of the glaciers, next to which is inhabited by narwhals. According to Eugene: “I realized that to conduct research in these areas and not pay attention to the floating near us endemic Arctic unicorn – a big mistake.”

Narwhals whistle used for intraspecific communication, navigation and hunting. The closer the animal to the food source they published the frequency of sounds increased, turning into a buzz, reminiscent of a running chainsaw. These signals help narwhals to identify the location of production.

Acoustic information generated by the narwhals, gives scientists a new understanding of their behavior in the process of feeding.


Source — AGU