With their long, spiral tusks, narwhals (Monodon monoceros) look like something out of a fairy tale. Primarily seen in male narwhals, these single elongated teeth that can grow up to 10 feet. These gregarious whales typically travel in pods of two to 10 individuals, but are a bit elusive and difficult to study in the wild. Scientists believe that the tusks are primarily used in competition for mates, but that might not be the whole story. New drone evidence detailed in a study published February 28 in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science found that narwhals can use their tusks to forage, explore their surroundings, and even play.

The meteoric rise of ChatGPT has sparked an artificial intelligence frenzy, stoking fears that the technology could upend jobs, search engines and schools. But online creators have identified one realm yet safe from the computer takeover: fiber arts. A number of TikTok users have deployed ChatGPT to write patterns for crochet creations, yielding "cursed" results that are testing the boundaries of nascent artificial intelligence capabilities. In January TikTok user Alexandra Woolner, who has been knitting for years and crocheting since 2019, hatched the idea to use ChatGPT to make a stuffed animal – initially asking it to write a pattern for a narwhal. A typical crochet pattern resembles coding in its own way, with abbreviations and punctuation marks denoting the creation process.

The small whale, known for its distinctively spiraled tusk, is under mounting pressure due to warming waters and the subsequent increase in Arctic shipping traffic. To better care for narwhals, we need to learn more about their foraging behaviour – and how these may change as a result of human disturbances and global warming. Biologists know almost nothing about this. Because narwhals live in isolated Arctic regions and hunt at depths of up to 1,000 meters, it is very difficult – sometimes impossible – to gain any insight whatsoever. Ironically, artificial intelligence may be the answer to the mystery of their natural behaviours.

Narwhal tusks have long fascinated Inuits but there has never been scientific evidence for how they are actually used. Well, drone footage has finally confirmed one useof these strange extensions. In a short clip, a narwhal is shown striking, stunning, and eating a small fish -- the first time such behavior has been captured on tape. "We know narwhals come in an out of the fjords in the summer but its not totally clear what they do, Marianne Marcoux, one of the scientists who worked on the study, told Digital Trends. "The drone allows us to get a new vantage point without disturbing the animals.

Video shows how narwhals use their iconic tusks to hunt fish. Filmed near Nunavut, Canada, a narwhal can be seen tapping a fish with its tusk. The unicorn of the sea just got a little less mysterious. Until now, how narwhals used their long tusks had been subject to much speculation by scientists. Behavior captured for the first time on camera shows narwhals using the long tusks protruding from their heads to stun Arctic cod by hitting them, using jagged, quick movements.