The Case of the Vanishing Narwhal

In what sounds like an April Fools story, the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) has appealed for the return of a narwhal corpse, which they believe may have been stranded on a North Clare beach in late March.

Narwhals (Monodon monoceros) are normally found in Arctic waters and, if confirmed, this will be the first recorded stranding of such a creature in Ireland. The thing is, it can't be confirmed, because the body of the dead cetacean has been removed in mysterious circumstances.

I can remember the first time I saw a Narwhal in either the Paris or Berlin Natural History Museum (I can't remember which) and being amazed that such a creature existed. For me, it falls into the same category as the duck-billed platypus, i.e. someone's having a laugh and clearly just stuck a fake tusk on a dolphin. But no, these creatures are perfectly real and their strange appearance has led to them being the source of some confusion over the centuries. Medieval Europeans, when presented with the excised tusks, believed them to be horns from the mythical unicorn. 

The IWDG say that Max Halliday spotted the stranded corpse near the Rock shop in Liscannor, Co. Clare (incidentally, that's the birthplace of one John Philip Holland, the Irishman who invented the submarine) on Sunday, March 25th. He reported the strange find to the IWDG on Monday 26th but the message wasn't picked up until Friday the 30th.

By the time IWDG and GMIT researchers were on site, the carcass was missing and all that remained was a grease stain and a lingering smell of rotting cetacean.

According to the IWDG, Max's description is as follows: "a cetacean that was larger than a dolphin at c15ft, with no dorsal fin, but most interestingly with a spiral tusk, about the length of a hurley, protruding from its head".

Liscannor, Co. Clare

Are there any photos? Unfortunately not. "I am absolutely mad that I didn’t take a photo. I am notorious for taking photos all the time, but for some unknown reason I didn’t take the photo. There were two women who were out on a walk at the time that I met than can corroborate what I saw" Max told the Irish Examiner.

Researchers were able to take small tissue samples from the site of the stranding which should be able to confirm if it was indeed a narwhal but they are keen to locate the corpse, not only to identify it, but to ensure it's preserved for posterity at the Natural History Museum.

"If we can prove this, then this is a very important finding, as this is a first for Ireland, bringing to 25 the number of cetacean species recorded in our waters", said Pádraig Whooley of the IWDG.

The group have appealed to people living in Co. Clare who may have seen the animal before it was removed to contact them with their observations and photos. They have also reminded those who removed the corpse that "all cetaceans in Irish waters, dead or alive, are fully protected by Irish law, and a special licence is required from NPWS for anyone in possession of such an animal or parts of".

"This is a potentially significant extralimital record of an Arctic vagrant, which to the best of our knowledge has never previously been recorded this far south."

"Clearly we are disappointed that thus far this animal has produced no photographic evidence which would be a far simpler way of confirming species ID, as male Narwhals are the only cetaceans that exhibit such a tusk, which is actually a protruding tooth on the upper jaw. So this is a public request for assistance and once again is not a 1st of April prank."

Update 05/04/2012: Clare County Council have said that they removed a carcass from Liscannor beach on the 27th March due to public health concerns and it is now destroyed. The contactors who carried out the removal did not report any tusk but that the corpse had already been significantly decomposed at that stage. Perhaps the eyewitness was mistaken is seeing a tusk? Perhaps the tusk was removed prior to the council moving the animal? Looks like this mystery will only be solved when the results of the genetic analysis are known. Stay tuned!


If you saw the creature and/or took photographs of same, you can contact the IWDG on strandings@iwdg.ie


RTE News have reported on the mystery:

The Greatest Show on Earth

The humpback whale, nicknamed Hook, breaches off of Hook Head, Co. Wexford. Image copyright of Padraig Whooley, Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG)

Sometimes we're really spoiled when it comes to enjoying nature up close and personal. In the early part of this week, newspapers and RTE television news reports were full of images of humpback whales launching themselves majestically through the air off Hook Head in Co. Wexford.

The humpback was first seen off Wexford in early January and on the 22nd, a team of researchers from the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG), Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT), Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) and a camera crew from Crossing the Line Films chartered the MV Rebecca C to view and film the animals.

Padraig Whooley, IWDG's Sighting Co-ordinator reports that this is a new humpback to Irish waters. He's sure of this because of analysis carried out on photographs of the whale's tail. Each whale has a slightly different one - a bit like a human fingerprint, which allows scientists to track them around the world. Just as long as they can get a good look at their tail.

This new animal brings the number of humpback's officially sighted in Irish waters to eleven. Many of these are regular visitors and return every year and despite the seemingly small numbers, the IWDG believe there is a slow but steady recovery going on in the Irish humpback population.

On Saturday last, as if to celebrate this good news, the humpback put on a spectacular 45-minute show where it breached the surface of the water on eleven occasions. All of this activity was documented in high definition by Ross Bartley from Crossing the Line films and the footage will form part of a new series of "Wild Journeys" due to start on RTE television later in the Spring. I for one am really looking forward to seeing that.

The humpback whale (Megaptera novaeanfliae) is one of the baleen whales. This means it filters its food directly from the water. Rather than having teeth with which to eat, the humpbacks are equipped with a baleen filtration system. This is made up of stiff plates which grow down from the gums of the upper jaw and extend in rows down both sides of the mouth. Baleen is made out of keratin- the same protein that our hair and fingernails are made from.

It is estimated that an adult humpback will eat up to 4% of its body weight per day. To do this, the whale gulps crustaceans and schooling fish in to its mouth and uses the filtration system to separate the food from the water.

In some cases, humpbacks will use a "bubble net" to capture food. The animal dives down beneath its prey then swims in a spiral upwards blowing bubbles from its blowholes as it does so. These bubbles form a sort of tubular net in which prey are trapped and pushed to the surface where the whale eventually gobbles them up.

Humpbacks have even been known to bubble net collectively. So, while one animal is blowing bubbles, another might be diving deeper to 'herd' prey into the net while more animals may be driving prey into the net by singing at them.

This whale song or vocalisation is particularly prevalent in humpbacks who may sing for 24 hours non-stop.

Scientists seem to be in dispute as to why baleen whales, and particularly humpbacks put on such amazing aerial acrobatics shows. One theory is that it is all an effort to attract a mate. Presumably the higher the whale can jump or the bigger the splash the whale can make, the fitter the animal is and all the better to mate with. In fact, breaching seems to increase when the animals are in groups, so this does suggest some sort of social function.

There is also some evidence that slapping the water with such force serves to stun and disorientate prey. This may be true, but it would hardly explain such elaborate displays seen off the Wexford coast.

Another theory gaining ground is that the animals are trying to dislodge parasites which attach themselves to their sides.

The IWDG website records 157 sightings of humpback whales in Irish waters going back to 1984. Despite a tiny handful sighted off the north coast and elsewhere, the vast majority of sightings have been recorded in an area stretching from Dingle to Hook Head. That means that in Cork, we have a front row seat for what Padraig Whooley describes as the "greatest wildlife show on earth".