Tusk, Tusk: Unicorns They Aren't
Unicorns, those magical one-horned horses, have for ages inspired art, songs,
and legends. However, the unicorn's mystique has been boosted by the tusks
of the lowly narwhal, a relatively unknown sea mammal.
Narwhals live in far northern seas, are about the size of beluga whales,
and are remarkable only for their long, straight tusks.
Dr. Gerald Vaughan, a UT Knoxville professor of ecology and evolutionary
biology, has an extracurricular interest in unicorns. He learned that Vikings
marketed tusks taken from Greenland narwhals in Europe as unicorn tusks.
Europeans, who believed that unicorn horns had magical properties, became
the Vikings' eager customers.
To learn more about narwhals, Vaughan contacted colleagues who routinely
study Arctic sea mammals. Among his findings: The narwhal tusk, which can
grow as long as nine feet three inches and is usually found only on males,
makes a perfect supplement to an attractive legend. That's because most
people are as likely to lay eyes on a unicorn as a narwhal.
"They range farther north than any other animals of their type. Their
major use is by native Greenlanders who hunt them for food," Vaughan
explains. "The skin contains vitamin C, which is a particularly important
nutrient for people who live in Arctic areas with low sunlight."
