Known narwhals are exclusively found in the Northern hemisphere, but there have reports of cryptid narwhal species in the Southern Ocean. [1]
Sightings[]
1615[]
In 1615 Dutch explorer Willem Schouten was on a trip in the Southern ocean which his ship was attacked by an unknown animal. The day after they found a horn lodged in the ship about 1 foot or 30 centimeters long.[1][2]
1620[]
French general Augustin de Beaulieu saw two dark porpoise-like animals below South of Africa. He said it had a horn about 1.5 feet or 45 centimeters long. He also described a high fin on the animal, while known narwhals only have a bony ridge.[3][4]
1892[]
In 1892 the Balaena saw a narwhal by the Bransfield Strait, pretty close to the Antarctic Mainland. The men on board were experienced whalers who clearly saw the horn, even using the whalers term for a narwhal, Uni. [5]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Eberhart, George M. (2002) Mysterious Creatures: A Guide to Cryptozoology, ABC-CLIO, Inc., ISBN 1576072835
- ↑ Willem Corneliszoon Schouten, Journal ou description du merveilleux voyage de Guillaume Schouten
- ↑ Augustin de Beaulieu, “Memoires du voyage aux Indes Orientales du general Beaulieu,” in Melchisedec Thevenot, ed., Relations de divers voyages curieux
- ↑ Dietz R, Shapiro AD, Bakhtiari M, Orr J, Tyack PL, Richard P, Eskesen IG, Marshall G. Upside-down swimming behaviour of free-ranging narwhals. BMC Ecol. 2007 Nov 19;7:14. doi: 10.1186/1472-6785-7-14. PMID: 18021441; PMCID: PMC2238733.
- ↑ W. G. Burn Murdoch, From Edinburgh to the Antarctic: An Artist’s Notes and Sketches during the Dundee Antarctic Expedition of 1892-93