In Search of the Mysterious Narwhal

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/In-Search-of-the-Mysterious-Narwhal.html

From this month's Smithsonian Magazine:

"Even before the hunters were off the phone, Kristin Laidre was out of her pajamas and struggling into a survival suit. She ran down to the beach, where a motorboat awaited. The night was frigid with ice-chip stars; the northern lights glowed green overhead. Laidre and a colleague sped past looming bergs and black cliffs plated with ice to the spot offshore where the villagers' boats were circling. The whale was there, a thrashing ton of panic amid the swells. Laidre could see its outline in the water and smell its sour breath."


"The species is practically a blank slate, which is what drew her to narwhals in the first place—that and the crystalline allure of the Arctic. By now she has analyzed scores of narwhal carcasses and managed to tag and follow about 40 live animals, publishing new information about diving behavior, migration patterns, relationship to sea ice and reactions to killer whales. Much of what the world knows about the narwhal's picky eating habits comes from Laidre's research, particularly a 2005 study that offered the first evidence of the whales' winter diet, which is heavy in squid, arctic cod and Greenland halibut."


...much more and lots of photos.

It's all in there

FUCK THAT NARWAL EATING MOTHER FUCKER

high seas adventure,
elusive creatures,
ethnic conflict,
and BALLERINAS !

Very exciting read.