Thirty years ago, a hunter in Greenland trapped and killed an unusual type of whale. This whale looked like no other whale he had seen before. It seemed to share characteristics of both the beluga whale and the narwhal.
The hunter turned over the skull of this unusual whale to a group of Danish researchers. They were unable to make a definitive identification of the skull, and they sent the skull to the National Museum of Denmark located at the University of Copenhagen. The skull remained there undergoing no additional study until a group of scientists decide to get to the bottom of the mystery.
The scientists took DNA samples from the whale skull and from the teeth. The information from these samples was then compared with DNA samples from eight beluga whales and eight narwhal.
The scientists were able to make the determination that the mystery whale was a first-generation cross between a beluga whale and a narwhal. The scientists were also able to determine that the mystery whale was a male.
This finding by the scientists is the first solid evidence of interbreeding between narwhal and belugas. The two species live in the Arctic, and they do spend some time throughout the year in close proximity to each other.
The area in Greenland where the whale was taken by the hunter is one of the breeding grounds of both types of whales. The two types of whales congregate in large numbers in this area. Scientists have speculated that cross-breeding of the two whale species does occur, but it is rare.
Belugas and narwhal bear little resemblance to one another. Narwhals have only one large, protruding tooth that looks like a unicorn horn. They are grey in color. On the other hand, belugas have a rounded head and are very light.
