When the first tusk from a narwhal was seen in Europe hundreds of years ago it was thought to have come from a horse and the legend of the unicorn was born. In fact, the narwhal is a species of whale which in the summer inhabits the sounds and inlets of the arctic archipelago. Only the male narwhal grows a tusk, which may measure 2.7 metres in length. As larger whales became scarce, hunters began to kill narwhal and in one season 2,800 were slaughtered near Pond's Inlet.
