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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.'"
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!
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!
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.
Was she Inuit?
In Inuit legend the narwhal was created when a woman holding onto a harpoon had been pulled into the ocean and twisted around the harpoon. The submerged woman was wrapped around a Beluga whale on the other end of the harpoon, and that is how the narwhal was created. --Wikipedia
Each processor would proceed sequentially as if it had been better for them not to rise against Saul.
Which raises an interesting question - if you're born with a toothache, and live your whole life with a toothache, do you still feel the pain?
With each breath in, a flower somewhere opens; with each breath out, a flower withers away. In between lies beauty.