Among all the large whales on Earth, the most unusual and least studied
is the narwhal, the northernmost whale on the planet and the one most
threatened by global warming. Narwhals thrive in the fjords and inlets
of northern Canada and Greenland. These elusive whales, whose long tusks
were the stuff of medieval European myths and Inuit legends, are
uniquely adapted to the Arctic ecosystem and are able to dive below
thick sheets of ice to depths of up to 1,500 meters in search of their
prey-halibut, cod, and squid.
Join Todd McLeish as he travels high above the Arctic circle to meet:
Teams of scientific researchers studying the narwhal's life cycle and
the mysteries of its tusk
Inuit storytellers and hunters
Animals that share the narwhals' habitat: walruses, polar bears, bowhead
and beluga whales, ivory gulls, and two kinds of seals
McLeish consults logbooks kept by whalers and explorers and interviews
folklorists and historians to tease out the relationship between the
real narwhal and the mythical unicorn. In Colorado, he visits
climatologists studying changes in the seasonal cycles of the Arctic
ice. From a history of the trade in narwhal tusks to descriptions of
narwhals' vocalizations as heard through hydrophones, Narwhals reveals
the beauty and thrill of the narwhal and its habitat, and the threat it
faces from a rapidly changing world.
Watch the trailer: http:
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHwaqdKyLCQ&list=UUge4MONgLFncQ1w1C_BnHcw&index=9&feature=plcp
