Nina the Narwhal
Nina has a long, spiral tusk, and everyone says she looks like a unicorn. But her tusk is even cooler than that.
In the icy Arctic Ocean swam a young narwhal named Nina. She had a speckled gray back, a white belly and a long, twisty tusk sticking out from her head.
"You look like a unicorn of the sea!" said a passing seal.
Nina giggled. Lots of animals said that. But Nina wondered what her tusk was really for.
She swam to find her grandmother, the oldest narwhal in the pod. "Grandma, why do we have tusks?"
Grandma twirled in the water. "Our tusk is actually a very long tooth," she said. "It grows right through our upper lip, in a spiral."
"A tooth?" Nina gasped. "That's so weird!"
"And it's full of tiny nerves," said Grandma. "Scientists think it might help us sense things in the water around us, like how cold or salty it is."
Nina swam in a circle, feeling the water with her tusk. It did feel like she could sense the chilly currents.
Just then, the ice above them began to crack and shift. "The ice is moving," said Grandma. "We need to find an open patch of water to breathe."
Narwhals are mammals, so they need to come up for air. Nina led the way, following the feel of the water, until she found a wide opening in the ice.
Whoosh! They all popped up and took big breaths of cold air. Above them, the northern lights danced in green and purple ribbons.
"Well done, Nina," said Grandma. Nina smiled. She wasn't just a unicorn of the sea. She was a narwhal — and that was even better.
⭐ The End ⭐
💬 Talk about it
- What is a narwhal's tusk really?
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A very long tooth. - Why do narwhals need to find openings in the ice?
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They are mammals and need to breathe air. - What might the tusk help narwhals sense?
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Things in the water, like how cold or salty it is.
