Mystery Mammals

Meet the Mystery Mammal

There are about 5,000 species of mammals living around the world today. Wait, make that 5,001.

Scientists with the World
Wildlife Fund have released photos of a night-stalking, never-before-seen mammal in the rainforests of Borneo. "We showed the photos of the animal to locals who know the wildlife of the area, but nobody had ever seen this creature before," said biologist Stephan Wulffraat. "We also consulted several Bornean wildlife experts and most were convinced it was a new species."

The red-haired, bushy-tailed, cat-sized critter looks like a cat-like fox (or maybe a fox-like cat). And its build, experts say, has "carnivore" written all over it. Of course, the only way to know for sure if it is a new carnivore is to capture it, which scientists hope to do next (alive, too--cameras and cages have long since replaced bullets as the preferred way to collect new species).

Touch a Narwhal Tusk

Impressive.
But what does it do?

A daring dentist may have solved a centuries-old marine mammal mystery: What does the tusk of a narwhal do?

You've seen pictures of narwhals, right? The fantastic whales are the unicorns of the sea--only unlike unicorns, narwhals are real. They swim in icy Arctic waters and grow blubbery on fish, squid, and shrimp. Males top out at about 15 feet (4.5 meters) and 3,500 pounds (1,600 kg) and sport nature's most amazing tooth: a spiraled, but straight-as-an-arrow, tusk that grows out of the whale's upper jaw and through its lip. Some females have the tusky tooth, too.

The tusk is usually more than half as long as the whale itself. And it's baffled humans for centuries. Until the 17th century, hucksters sold narwhal tusks as unicorn horns, often to royally fooled royalty. Since then, science has put the unicorn's horn on a whale, but still hasn't managed to explain what it does. Maybe it breaks the ice. Or spears the fish. Or wins the fight. Or woos a mate. No one knows.

But now, Dr. Martin Nweeia, a dentist with an electron microscope and an Inuit guide, has some answers. The narwhal's amazing tooth, it seems, is a sensory organ unlike any other. Enamel covers the pathways to the sensitive nerves of your teeth, but not the narwhal's. Tiny tubules expose 10 million nerve endings to the cold, cold water and air. You'd scream and get an ice cream headache. But the narwhal just may use its tooth to monitor temperature, pressure, and salinity changes in its ocean environment.

Some scientists think such monitoring could help the whales avoid getting trapped in pack ice, which kills narwhals every year. The super-sensitive tooth may have other uses, too. For example, narwhals often gently rub their tusks together. Dr. Nweeia says that, given all the exposed nerve endings, the whales probably experience a "unique sensation."

Learn more about the unicorns of the sea

Sight of the Week:
Award-Winning Wildlife Photos

You don't need to travel to the rainforests of Borneo or the icy wastes of the Arctic to see amazing animals. That's because National Wildlife magazine has announced the winners of its 35th annual photo contest.

Just click and see a swooping owl appear right in front of your face, two cooperative pelicans herding carp for capture, hundreds of dolphins racing a cruise ship, a grizzly bear who's clearly had a bad day, and more.

See the winners of National Wildlife's 35th annual
photo contest now

Michael Himick and Steve Sampson
December 19, 2005