Page 104 - restitution_book_MOW2023_EN

102 | RAISING AWARENESS AMONG YOUNG PEOPLE

ARCTIC WILDLIFE
Focus on the narwhal,

a mysterious ocean

dweller

The Arctic cetacean, the legendary "unicorn of the seas", was given pride of
place during Monaco Ocean Week at a conference for the general public

given by one of the world's leading specialists on the species.

Pristine expanses of water and ice, intimidating moun- The results of this research were presented by
tains... These are the landscapes of the narwhals, the Dr Nweeia at a conference for the general public on
discreet migratory cetaceans that travel to the Arctic 24 March 2023, during Monaco Ocean Week, contri-
in summer to breed. For centuries, there have been buting to a better understanding of narwhals. A male
many legends and hypotheses about the role of their prerogative, the hypertrophied tooth, which reaches
oversized, twisted ivory tusks. Scientific research has 2.5 metres in length, is said to be "the most flexible
been looking into this issue since the early 2000s, and material on the planet, since it bends at a rate of 12
it was in 2014 that Martin Nweeia, a researcher for degrees in all directions", according to the lecturer,
Harvard's Catalyst and assistant professor at Case who shows striking macroscopic 3D images of the
Western Reserve University, demonstrated the senso- central nerve: "The rich nerve endings in the tooth
ry function of the 'horn' in live narwhals. To do this, enable the animal to perceive differences in pressure,
using a laboratory floating in Arctic waters, he com- salinity and temperature, key factors in the formation
pared the physiological response of the heart rate of of the ice that determines the migration of the spe-
animals exposed to different degrees of salinity intro- cies", explains the researcher.
duced into the defence. The results of the study made
the cover of the journal The Anatomical Record and This research has had repercussions for the Inuit
attracted the attention of the international press. Since communities, who are now in charge of monitoring
then, the study launched on the narwhal genome, led narwhal populations: "These cetaceans are difficult to
by Dr Nweeia, a Canadian researcher at the Cana- track because they barely come out of the water, so
dian Museum of Nature and Zoonomia partner at the we don't see them very much", says a local represen-
Broad Institute of MIT/Harvard, has produced the re- tative. This trend is now being challenged by changes
ference genome of this species as well as a narwhal to the ice pack, which is being severely impacted by
cell line at the Frozen Zoo in San Diego. global warming. The species may soon be faced with
changes to its migratory routes, the presence of new
predators and noise pollution from maritime traffic
and the development of seismic prospecting.