A hunter turned over a unique whale skull that had scientists stumped for decades. But now, researchers say it's from the offspring of a narwhal mother and a beluga father.
A hunter turned over a whale skull that appeared to share the characteristics of both a beluga whale and a narwhal. Scientists were stumped. But, years after revisiting the anomaly, a group of Danish researchers decided it was a hybrid whale all along.The unique skull, they say, was the result of a forbidden romance between a narwhal mother and a beluga father.
The skull contained DNA from a female narwhal, an elusive species known for the long tooth that protrudes from male narwhal's lips and earned them the nickname"unicorn of the sea." To settle the whale's parentage once and for all, researchers analyzed the skull's DNA sequences against those of eight belugas and eight narwhals and the tooth and bone samples from both.
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