Mondo Knows Facts
The narwhal tusk is actually an overgrown canine tooth
A narwhal spiral tusk contains millions of sensitive nerve endings.
Most male narwhals develop a long left canine tooth that grows straight through their upper lip into a helical tusk up to three metres long. The tusk surface features millions of microscopic pores that measure water salinity, temperature, and pressure in Arctic seas.
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Tags: narwhal, ocean, teeth
The narwhal tusk is actually an overgrown canine tooth: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- A narwhal spiral tusk contains millions of sensitive nerve endings. The figure is taken from Natural History Museum, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
- Is this really a animals fact?
- Yes. It sits on the Animals shelf, one of 1,090 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
- What else can I read about it?
- The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.