Portal:Cetaceans/Did you know/5


 * ...the male narwhal's tusk can be up to 3.5 metres in length which is over the size of an average female without a horn and weigh up to 10 kilograms.


 * ...male narwhal(e)s tusk is the canine growing through the lip. Sometimes, the male will have 2 tusks but their number is small. Female narwhal(e) rarely have a tusk and if they do, it must be smaller than the males. Also,there is only 1 recorded case of a dual horned female narwhal(e)


 * ...observations of cetaceans date back to at least the classical period in Greece, when fisherpeople made notches on the dorsal fins of dolphins entangled in nets in order to tell them apart years later.


 * ...groups of bottlenose dolphins around the Australian Pacific have displayed basic tool use by wrapping pieces of sponge around their beaks to prevent abrasions. This is a display of a cognitive process similar to that of great apes.


 * ...Herman Melville's novel Moby-Dick had real-life inspiration, a notorious male sperm whale named Mocha Dick.


 * ...the Voyager Golden Record carried into space whale songs, among other sounds.