How big does a Narwhal get? Here is an overview over the average adult age:
A grown Narwhal (Monodon monoceros) reaches an average size of 5.1 meter (16′ 9″).
When born, they have an average size of 0 cm (0′ 0″). During their lifetime of about 40 years, they grow from 80 kg (176.37 lbs) to 938.06 kg (2068.07 lbs). A Narwhal has 1 babies at once. The Narwhal (genus: Monodon) is a member of the family Monodontidae.
As a reference: Humans reach an average body size of 1.65m (5′ 5″) while carrying 62 kg (137 lbs). A human woman is pregnant for 280 days (40 weeks) and on average become 75 years old.
The narwhal or narwhale (Monodon monoceros) is a medium-sized toothed whale that possesses a large “tusk” from a protruding canine tooth. It lives year-round in the Arctic waters around Greenland, Canada, and Russia. It is one of two living species of whale in the family Monodontidae, along with the beluga whale. The narwhal males are distinguished by a long, straight, helical tusk, which is an elongated upper left canine. The narwhal was one of many species described by Carl Linnaeus in his publication Systema Naturae in 1758.Like the beluga, narwhals are medium-sized whales. For both sexes, excluding the male’s tusk, the total body size can range from 3.95 to 5.5 m (13 to 18 ft); the males are slightly larger than the females. The average weight of an adult narwhal is 800 to 1,600 kg (1,760 to 3,530 lb). At around 11 to 13 years old, the males become sexually mature; females become sexually mature at about 5 to 8 years old. Narwhals do not have a dorsal fin, and their neck vertebrae are jointed like those of most other mammals, not fused as in dolphins and most whales.Found primarily in Canadian Arctic and Greenlandic and Russian waters, the narwhal is a uniquely specialized Arctic predator. In winter, it feeds on benthic prey, mostly flatfish, under dense pack ice. During the summer, narwhals eat mostly Arctic cod and Greenland halibut, with other fish such as polar cod making up the remainder of their diet. Each year, they migrate from bays into the ocean as summer comes. In the winter, the male narwhals occasionally dive up to 1,500 m (4,920 ft) in depth, with dives lasting up to 25 minutes. Narwhals, like most toothed whales, communicate with “clicks”, “whistles”, and “knocks”.Narwhals can live up to 50 years. They are often killed by suffocation after being trapped due to the formation of sea ice. Other causes of death, specifically among young whales, are starvation and predation by orcas. As previous estimates of the world narwhal population were below 50,000, narwhals are categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as Nearly Threatened. More recent estimates list higher populations (upwards of 170,000), thus lowering the status to Least Concern. Narwhals have been harvested for hundreds of years by Inuit people in northern Canada and Greenland for meat and ivory, and a regulated subsistence hunt continues.
Animals of the same family as a Narwhal
We found other animals of the Monodontidae family:
- Beluga whale with a size of 4.25 meter (14′ 0″)
Animals with the same size as a Narwhal
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Narwhal:
- Sowerby’s beaked whale with a size of 5.03 meter (16′ 7″)
- Hubbs’ beaked whale with a size of 5.4 meter (17′ 9″)
- Northern giraffe with a size of 4.18 meter (13′ 9″)
- Blainville’s beaked whale with a size of 4.59 meter (15′ 1″)
- Andrews’ beaked whale with a size of 4.26 meter (14′ 0″)
- Ginkgo-toothed beaked whale with a size of 4.88 meter (16′ 1″)
- Long-finned pilot whale with a size of 5.69 meter (18′ 9″)
- Short-finned pilot whale with a size of 6.1 meter (20′ 1″)
- Stejneger’s beaked whale with a size of 6.09 meter (20′ 0″)
- Beluga whale with a size of 4.25 meter (14′ 0″)
Animals with the same litter size as a Narwhal
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (1) as a Narwhal:
- Himalayan tahr
- South Andean deer
- Nancy Ma’s night monkey
- Dark-winged lesser house bat
- Lappet-eared free-tailed bat
- Blue whale
- Cape horseshoe bat
- Western long-beaked echidna
- Coppery titi
- Diana monkey
Animals with the same life expectancy as a Narwhal
Completely different animals, but becoming as old as a Narwhal:
- Northern bottlenose whale with an average maximal age of 37 years
- Bactrian camel with an average maximal age of 40 years
- American bison with an average maximal age of 33 years
- Crabeater seal with an average maximal age of 39 years
- Humboldt’s white-fronted capuchin with an average maximal age of 44 years
- Black rhinoceros with an average maximal age of 47 years
- Southern pig-tailed macaque with an average maximal age of 34.25 years
- Long-finned pilot whale with an average maximal age of 45 years
- American black bear with an average maximal age of 32 years
- Pygmy hippopotamus with an average maximal age of 43.75 years
Animals with the same weight as a Narwhal
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Monodon monoceros:
- Gayal with a weight of 800.07 kilos (1763.85 lbs)
- Long-finned pilot whale with a weight of 800 kilos (1763.7 lbs)
- Sumatran rhinoceros with a weight of 1038.08 kilos (2288.57 lbs)
- Northern elephant seal with a weight of 1116.2 kilos (2460.8 lbs)
- Water buffalo with a weight of 924.25 kilos (2037.62 lbs)
- Walrus with a weight of 1045.33 kilos (2304.56 lbs)
- Kouprey with a weight of 788.66 kilos (1738.7 lbs)
- Black rhinoceros with a weight of 986.47 kilos (2174.79 lbs)
- Hector’s beaked whale with a weight of 1000 kilos (2204.62 lbs)
- Northern giraffe with a weight of 959.83 kilos (2116.06 lbs)