Slashdot Mirror
Narwhal Tusks are Sensory Organs
PR0UD_INFIDEL writes "The New York Times is reporting that a recent study has determined that Narwhal tusks are not for fighting or breaking through ice, but are highly sensitive sensory organs. From the article: 'The close-ups showed that 10 million nerve endings tunnel from the tusk's core toward its outer surface, [and can] detect subtle changes of temperature, pressure, particle gradients and probably much else.'"
Redeem them for valuable prizes.
Am I the only one that read that as a potential copulatory device (more like, assistive device)?
in another related report today, unicorns and swordfish claim their sword's have the same sensitive attributes and should not be underrated.
They're antennae! Narwhals are the contacts for the aliens! Where's my tinfoil...
"A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy." --Theodore Roosevelt
That's no whale
Who new that sensitive teeth could be an evolutionary advantage...
Never trust a man in a blue trench coat, Never drive a car when you're dead
I had to search a bit but apparently this is when the amount of particles contained in a substrate changes with respect to distance and the distribution follows a pattern.
Source: here is the sight that made me understand.
This is all my speculation but I imagine this would be quite useful for narwhales since they live in a food deprived environment and could sense if they were getting closer to nutrient rich waters.
Shouldn't it be "Save the Narwhales. Redeem them for valuable prizes?"
I've got a highly sensitive tusk shaped sensory organ too!
My "highly sensitive sensory organ" is about the same size.
Lots of nerve endings eh, just like in our tusks!
No registration required at this link: http://mirrordot.org/stories/a75c44e236dd22a96d6f1 6244d4613ad/index.html
I read your comment before TFA. Apparently they
'engage in what is known as "tusking," where two males gently rub tusks together, Dr. Nweeia said. He added that the Inuit seldom report aggressive contact, undermining ideas of ritualized battle.'
Not that there's anything wrong with that.
It's quite sobering to realise that they're sensory organs when you consider that poachers hack them off. :o(
That must hurt like a bastard - think more like ripping a tooth out than clipping a fingernail...
...why Mr. Narwhale knew that Buddy was leaving.
Most Canadian households, in the know, keep a narwhal hung outside a window. With the high concentrations of mercury most norhern marine mammals have it's an easy hack to attach metrics to each of the teeth and have read outs for temperature, barometrics and particulate pollution.
If there's evolutionary benefit to be gained from 'extra sensory powers' it makes sense that a tooth/tusk should evolve in this way.
What surprises me is that something that can be so easily broken should have evolved to be so sensitive. Horns and claws contain no nerves because they're so easily lost in combat.
It's interesting how our highly developed sense of cognition limits us to thinking sharp+pointed=weapon, however I've also seen John Holmes flogging a few porn stars senseless with his large sensory organ, so eh..
Join the Slashcott! Feb 10 thru Feb 17!
What they used to say is true. Never go anywhere without a narwhal.
Hang on...
Maybe this explains why certain people can pick up radio transmissions. Except when they are wearing tinfoil hats, of course.
It is nice to know that these animals don't have to go around life with a long thing sticking out of they're face for nothing.
Some say he is made with ascii, others that he is eyeballed daily by millions. All we know is, he is known as the Sig
But why is it only the whale bulls (are male whales called bulls in english to?) that have these then? If they have a purpose beside assisting in reproduction, for fighting or impressing the females then why would not the females also have them?
-Queen of the Kung-Fu fairies
There are people in the current admin that can pick up WMD and terrorists signals all over the world without being in the same hemisphere. And they announce it all the time.
NPR did a story on this yesterday morning.
Summary:
A Harvard dental researcher says he's figured out the purpose of the giant, unicorn-like tusk seen on narwhal whales: It acts like an antenna that allows the narwhal to sense food and sea conditions. The dentist says the tusks are a giant tooth that grows inside out, with hard tissue inside and sensitive nerves on the outside.
3D Printing Tips and Tricks at Zheng3.com
That must hurt like a bastard - think more like ripping a tooth out than clipping a fingernail...
Or eyes..
fucktard is a tenderhearted description
The tusk is also used to connect to the Matrix
A Narwhal man's place is in the kitchen! The tusks are for finding food.
And yes that's how you spell Narwhal.
Frog blast the vent core.
And we thought the human "bone" was sensitive...
Does anybody proofread these submissions?
Trivia: they used to make billiard balls out of narwhale tusks.
You mean, like a penis? So they're in effect dickheads?
"He's going to be very popular with the ladies!"
I wonder what the noodly one had in mind when he created these creatures.
and thanks for all the fish.
But not as you know it. Narwal are not the only species that have protrusions laced with sensors. Most insects have extremities that are used for sensing too, only in their case they are derived from legs (switch of the antennapedia gene and you get induviduals with legs on their heads) ;-)
But being a creature that has lost it's legs long ago, it uses a tooth instead of a leg. They must earn fortunes from the tooth fairy though
This space is intentionally staring blankly at you
Wow, could the summary have been worded just a bit differently?
Highly sensitive sensory organs? I would hope there isn't some evolutionary goal for mostly insensitive sensory organs, mediumly sensitive nonsensory gland (I beleive Dr. Seuss had a fully developed one) or even the dreaded exceedingly sensitive appendix wrinkle.
Oh, and a nice warning about the NYTimes soul draining registation would have been nice.
--- As to make my comment seem, by comparison, more intelegent... doodie doodie doodie poop poop poop!
Nuf Said.
The title of your link is: Scientists Create New Material With Varying Densities of Gold Nanoparticles
What on earth does that have to do with narwal tusks? A clear case of karma fooling if you ask me...
This space is intentionally staring blankly at you
While you're comparing yourself to a male narwhal, do you also do this (from TFA): "[the] tactile sense might explain why...two males gently rub tusks together"?
No... Read the page or at least look at the pretty picture.
Think about it a while and I gather you can figure out why I posted this link instead of all the other millions of sites about "particle gradient sensing organs in marine life."
[and can] detect subtle changes of temperature, pressure, particle gradients and probably much else.'"
Dear Editer,
If you are ging to go to the troubel of addding [and can] would you please cleam up the rest?
"and probably much else".....Oy
Thanks Youu
Not that there's anything wrong with that.
This just in ... Texas has just passed a constitutional amendment prohibiting narwhals from getting married.
The Tusks are not used for fighting. I am a biologist, and I do not know of any marine creature with horns used for fighting. Walrusses use their tusks for fighting, but that is on land. I doubt if they would be effective in the water.
Also, teeth are not easily broken, it is one of the most resilient parts of the whole body. One of the most commonly found fossils are teeth. And if you ever have had a big toothache, you'd know that there are plenty of nerves inside them.
But the reason narwals evolved a tooth for the job is probably because it was the easiest organ at hand: it already is laced with nerve endings, the only adapations it needed was for it to grow much bigger/longer and be pointed forward.
It's funny though, some people can sense weather changes through ulcers or athritis, but these guys sense them though their teeth, and they are not even rotten. (TFA speculates that the pointing of tusks into the air while surfacing for breathing would be to check the weather).
This space is intentionally staring blankly at you
"There goes a narwhale" -Rock Lobster
My mom always said, "Jim, you're 1 in a million." Given the current population, there are 7000 of me. God help us all!
Makes me wonder if they get lots of Radio Frequency Interference. At 2.0m to 2.8m long they would be sensitive in the RF range of 107MHz to 149MHz.
Any Hams/Broadcast Engineers know whats in that range of frequencys?
I don't want a pickle; I just want a Motor-Cycle! A four foot cop arrived with a five foot gun!
Aliens? Nah. The tusks are antenne for wireless communications for sharing whale songs among the Narwhal pods. The protocol? Why naturally their Pods use Bluetooth...
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
He added that the nerve endings, in addition to other readings, undoubtedly produce tactile sensations when the tusk is rubbed or touched, and that these might be interpreted as pleasurable. This tactile sense might explain why narwhals engage in what is known as "tusking," where two males gently rub tusks together, Dr. Nweeia said.
I couldn't help snickering that this. Not because narwhals might have the gay, but how uncomfortable it makes some people to have to acknowledge this behavior when they don't want to, especially "scientists". Sexual repression in others is always good for a laugh.
Dr. Nweeia said that gentle tusking might also be a way that males remove encrustations on their tusks so tubules stay open, allowing them to better function as sensors. "It may simply be their way of cleaning or brushing teeth," he said.
Geez, this paragraph wins the "when you're a hammer every problem looks like a nail" award for the day.
Speak truth to power.
I don't know about you, but if I relate to "highly sensitive sensory organs" I don't think about my teeth, oooh the pain ... must not think about it.
... while stocks last.
... universal health care for narwhals!
How can a post be modded "overrated" or "underrated" when it hasn't been rated yet?
It's a pity that this wasn't discovered before Patrick O'Brian passed away. He was fascinated by the Narwhal tusk puzzle.
Though I guess
Actually, they think, "Screeeeee wooooooooo hummmm hummm eeeeeerrrrr ooooooooooo."
It also picks up AM radio, but some would says that's not exactly an evolutionary advantage (thus proving the ID theory).
I actually have a Narwhal anecdote: I was at a theater when I was a kid, and the movie (some adventure thing) had a quick scene with a Narwhal in it. The lady behind me leans over to her kid and says, "See? That's a Narwhal. It has a harpoon in it."
Still haven't figured that one out. She knew it was a Narwhal, but then thought the tusk was a harpoon... I dunno...
You mean like a tooth?
an ill wind that blows no good
Somebody told me that in Spain sometimes they file down the horns of Bulls. This is not so that they are less sharpe and hurt the bull fighter but also because it dulls the bull. They are in pain and so don't like there exposed horns touching anything. Prehaps they to have nerves in their horn?
non-expiring reg free link
/. editors were better, they would make these links.
New York Times Link Generator
If
Actually, the females have them too, only smaller... at least some of them do. And some males have two, with one smaller than the other. Narwhal are beautiful, I used to love watching them glide past the beach in Resolute. There were about two days each summer when large groups went past.
;-)
Interesting notes upthread on the polar cod. They are central to the arctic ocean ecosystem; they feed on copepods, which in turn feed on tinier plankton and (especially) the algae that grow on the underside of the sea ice.
Diving under the ice (yes, I've done it) is fascinating - there's this whole inverted world, with the algae and the grazing copepods and the seals (very curious, not at all scared) and of course the cod. It's an immensely productive system, too, hence the huge numbers of migratory seabirds nesting in the arctic in the summer.
OK, now I want to go back. I guess ten years wasn't enough.
Corruptissima re publica plurimae leges.
Anyways... You're right about the second link. That was pretty much my line of logic. I'm done checking this topic so any further crap posted here will be ignored.
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&q=Narwhal +Tusks&btnG=Search+News
I'd go on a Vegan diet but the delivery time from Vega is too long. --brownkitty
Ouch, she kicked 'im right in the tusks, the poor sod.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
These "highly sensitive sensory organs" sound a lot like a penis. But then again I only use mine to feel my way forward when having sex. :)
It makes sense that they would have to feel their way in the dark under the ice. The far north and south experience a long period of darkness each year and not much light can make it through the thick ice. I figure the males have the tusks since they must lead the pod.
Yes, I realize this is Slashdot and most of you here don't have girlfriends, wives, Significant Others, sex (other than with yourself), but I do. Been married twice, have had many girlfriends, have one now and have lots of sex. I am abnormal among this crowd, but I like you guys. In some things, it helps to be a geek and know lots about a subject. Sex is one of those. Learn all you can boys. Some day a girl will give you a shot and you need to put on a show. I gave mine, 5 orgasms in an hour Sunday night. Keeps her smiling for days.
--Somewhere there is a village missing an idiot.
Hey what happens under the ice.... STAYS under the ice!
...that's a submarine ship!
is that a Narwahl in your pocket, or are you happy to see me?
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
No offense intended (or needed) :)
this comment is provided "as is" and without any express or implied legibility or congruity [...]
There's no reason it can't be a sensory organ and also be used to attract the chicks.
In fact, I think it's silly to say that they're for one thing. Males with the big "horn" survived better because they found food easier then males without the horn. Females that were attacted to males with big horns survived better and breed more because they were with the males that could find food better. So it acts as both.
You, insensitive clod.
They're endangered because everyone in China is using their tusks as boner medicine? That brings up the question. Is there any animal the Chinese aren't busy grinding up into boner medicine?
If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
fdfdsff
wtf...
Anon; no Karma Whoring.
For centuries, the tusk of the narwhal has fascinated and baffled.
Skip to next paragraph Multimedia
Graphic A Long History
A Long History
Graphic Riddle Solved
Riddle Solved
Bryan & Cherry Alexander/Photo Researchers, Inc.
A double-tusked narwhal, top, is a rarity. Like other whales, narwhals surface to breathe air, middle. Martin T. Nweeia, a research team leader, measures tusks at the Zoological Museum in Copenhagen.
Narwhal tusks, up to nine feet long, were sold as unicorn horns in ages past, often for many times their weight in gold since they were said to possess magic powers. In the 16th century, Queen Elizabeth received a tusk valued at £10,000 - the cost of a castle. Austrian lore holds that Kaiser Karl the Fifth paid off a large national debt with two tusks. In Vienna, the Hapsburgs had one made into a scepter heavy with diamonds, rubies, sapphires and emeralds.
Scientists have long tried to explain why a stocky whale that lives in arctic waters, feeding on cod and other creatures that flourish amid the pack ice, should wield such a long tusk. The theories about how the narwhal uses the tusk have included breaking ice, spearing fish, piercing ships, transmitting sound, shedding excess body heat, poking the seabed for food, wooing females, defending baby narwhals and establishing dominance in social hierarchies.
But a team of scientists from Harvard and the National Institute of Standards and Technology has now made a startling discovery: the tusk, it turns out, forms a sensory organ of exceptional size and sensitivity, making the living appendage one of the planet's most remarkable, and one that in some ways outdoes its own mythology.
The find came when the team turned an electron microscope on the tusk's material and found new subtleties of dental anatomy. The close-ups showed that 10 million nerve endings tunnel from the tusk's core toward its outer surface, communicating with the outside world. The scientists say the nerves can detect subtle changes of temperature, pressure, particle gradients and probably much else, giving the animal unique insights.
"This whale is intent on understanding its environment," said Martin T. Nweeia, the team's leader and a clinical instructor at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine. Contrary to common views, he said, "The tusk is not about guys duking it out with sticks and swords."
Today in San Diego, Dr. Nweeia is presenting the team's findings at the 16th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals, sponsored by the Society for Marine Mammalogy.
James G. Mead, curator of marine mammals at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, where Dr. Nweeia is a research associate, said the exposed nerve endings appear to be unparalleled in nature.
"As far as I can see, it's a unique thing," Dr. Mead said in an interview. "It's something new. It just goes to show just how little we know about whales and dolphins."
He noted that no theory about the tusk's function ever envisioned its use as a sensory organ.
In the Canadian wilds, the team recently conducted a field study on a captured narwhal, fitting electrodes on its head. Changes in salinity around the animal's tusk, Dr. Nweeia found, produced signs of altered brain waves, giving preliminary support to the sensor hypothesis. The unharmed whale was then released.
With the basics now in hand, the team is working to understand how the narwhal uses the information. One theory is that the tusk can detect salinity gradients that tell if ice is freezing, a hazard that has killed hundreds of narwhals. Tusk readings may also help the whales track environments that favor their preferred foods.
"It's the kind of discovery," said Dr. Mead of the Smithsonian, "that opens up a lot of other questions."
Little about the narwhal's appearance or behavior offers clues to the tusk's sensory importance. The whale has eyes, though small ones. It also has a thick layer of blubber and no dors
In the Conversational Norwegian short of Freakazoid, we learn that "narkval" is Norwegian for narwhale.
/. going to believe?
"Lykkkelig liten narkval" -> Happy little narwhale
Then again, the OED lists it as "narwhal"... but who is
Can they get 802.11b with that?
MadOgre.com
Just because there's something rare and used for medicinal purposes doesn't mean the Chinese have hunted it to extinction. RTFA please, it has plenty of examples of how europeans inflate the prices of these tusks and are used to cure scurvy and everything else you can think of. I only hope it can cure foolishness like yours.
Every culture has its aphrodisiacs, so don't go around insulting "everyone in China" especially when TFA has nothing to do with Chinese people.
It's time!
"Those who cast the votes decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything" -- Josef Stalin
Some analogies should only go so far! I can see it now: narwhalling will soon be all the rage in San Francisco and on gay pr0n sites. :-)
Hmmm gonna be slightly off topic now:
Given the choice (or lack thereof), would you rather have all your teeth, both eyes, or your penis ripped out of your body? Just curious.
That's probably what's happening to the these poor creatures all the time because they can be legally hunted i think =As in "sense of humor". You should look into getting one.
If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
-1, off-topic
SSN-671 Narwhal
The USS NARWHAL (SSN-671) was the quietest of submarines at the time of her commissioning, the result of a natural circulation reactor. She has been modified for special missions, and is fitted to operate a Remotely Opearted Vehicle. She was decommissioned in 1999. The USS Narwhal (SSN 671) was built as the prototype platform for an ultra-quiet natural circulation reactor design. This allows for operation with the large water circulating pumps, a major source of radiated noise, secured. It is similar to the Sturgeon design in other respects. NARWHAL used new engineering technology and several other innovations that led to advances in the submarine development program, laying important groundwork for the LOS ANGELES and OHIO class submarines which followed her. She was truly a one ship class.
According to some reports Narwhal was employed for intelligence collection, and was fitted with a structure, called a "turtleback" -- just forward of her rudder that some have suggested may possibly be for remote-controlled underwater vehicles. However, a more prosaic explanation suggest that the big bulge on her stern is a casing for TB-23 towed array fitted with the new BQQ-5D sonar.
Is that a Narwhal tusk in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?
I can't even begin to recall the last time I've read anything in the news about Narwhals. I just registered on slashdot like 2 days ago, and pulled this nick outta my ass. Now Narwhals are all hip and stuff. Am I a trend setter or what? Friggin weird... And yes, as a matter of fact, I used to be a narwhal, but... I got better.
"a sensory organ of exceptional size and sensitivity, making the living appendage one of the planet's most remarkable"
That's what she said.
For example, cats whiskers are also highly sensitive to EM fields on top of wind changes and there great touch of touch.
- d
=> burp! = gimme another beer.
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
All teeth have nerves. Elephants use their tusks (==teeth) as feelers too. The narwal,s adaptation of a tooth into a sensor is just a elovutionary extension of that: add more nerves = make a better sensor.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
If only you could edit a post, I'd remove it. But where would be the fun in that? So much for previewing a post. I shoulda scrolled up. So it's all out there now.
Variety is the spice of life and of orgasm. Learn how to find the g-spot, it does exist. Read about how to last longer than a couple of minutes in the sack. Learn what works for you. As Sam Kinison said, "Lick the alphabet!" It definitely works. She says, "More capital W, M, Q and G."
By the way, 5 is not the record. It's 7. She thinks I should teach a class.
--Somewhere there is a village missing an idiot.
...you question me about the wicked tusk of the narwhal, and I reply by describing how the sea unicorn with the harpoon in it dies.
Well the choice would be not my eyes or teeth, but thats a more practical decision rather then judging which would be the smallest grief.
Though shy of humans, the animals are quite social.
Man, it must suck to have to worry about not only being fun and charming, but not accidentally stabbing your date in the face as well.
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
Lol I'm not trying to be mean or anything it's just that your posts seem to beg for jibes :) So I just have to reply because of the following...
...begs me to joke "are you talking about your own g-spot?" or "find your own g-spot yourself goddammit!"
:) It only gives the impression that the person thinks they're the first to discover it and that everyone else should care, and both those notions are completely ridiculous.
"Learn how to find the g-spot, it does exist."
Whatever, here's a well-intentioned hint from the rest of humanity above thirty: don't brag about sex, it only makes you (anyone) look immature and/or stupid
this comment is provided "as is" and without any express or implied legibility or congruity [...]
You can see for yourself here:
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/osmhome/allochrt.pdf
Libertas in infinitum
Obligitory joke:
A baby seal walked into a club...
Libertas in infinitum
You are so right, bragging about sex is lame...
:D
Now if you walk around with a hot babe on each arm you are just the fucking man
I would like to know why the olfactory system is absent in the tfa.Maybe it helps conserve heat by keeping a closed system and still having data coming in at all times.
that's a seriously large boner
Did you see the pool? They flipped the bitch!
A narwhal resembles, to a first approximation, the physical configurtion of a QUARTER-wave monopole antenna( the tusk) extending from a ground-plane ( the body of the animal ). To the extent that this is a correct interpretation, and ignoring any loading/ detuning effects of the saltwater environment, the Narwhal/tusk antenna system would be resonant to wavelengths in the eight meter to eleven meter range (37.5 MHz to 27 MHz).
This includes the 10 meter Ham band (the highest frequency Ham band that is commonly used for world-spanning communication (eg. California to Japan at 10 Watts). It also includes the traditional U.S. "CB" ("citizen's Band") made famous by truckers in the '70s. ' Breaker Breaker! Good buddy! My hande's Longtooth ! Looks like we got us a CONVOY!"