Narwhals: Unicorns of the sea?

Brains On! Science podcast for kids

Lemonada Media

Kids & Family, Education For Kids

4.5 • 14.7K Ratings

🗓️ 17 March 2020

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Narwhals are whales, and super cool ones at that. But that cool thing coming out of their heads is a tusk, not a horn. Which means it’s a tooth! And it’s the only known spiral tooth to boot! In this episode, we learn all about narwhals (what that tusk is for and how they’re connected to the myth of the unicorn) and the evolution of teeth (from scale-like nubbins to the versatile chompers we have today). Plus our Moment of Um explores whether or not water has a taste. Today’s episode is sponsored by KiwiCo (kiwico.com/brainson), Khan Academy Kids (khan.co/freekidsapp) and iD Tech (idtech.com/brains). Brains On is a non-profit public radio podcast. You can support Brains On at brainson.org/fans. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Here listening to Brains On, where we're serious about being curious.
0:04.1	Brains On is supported on part by a grant from the National Science Foundation.
0:15.8	Close your eyes and listen.
0:20.4	What are you picturing when you hear these sounds?
0:23.2	An alien planet?
0:24.6	Or maybe a spatial planet? Or a dance party for ghosts?
0:28.0	It sounds like science fiction, but these are real noises from nature.
0:32.4	That is the sound of the Arctic.
0:34.4	Those are animals you're hearing.
0:36.2	Bearded seals and narwhals.
0:38.4	And today we're taking you to the Arctic to answer this question from Silvi in Kuzbe, Oregon.
0:44.0	My question is, why do narwhals have horns?
0:48.0	Don't know what a narwhal is. Curious about its mighty horn?
0:51.6	Well...
0:52.6	Keep listening.
0:59.0	You're listening to Brains On from American Public Media.
1:02.4	I'm Molly Bloom and my co-host today are Leah and Maya from Los Angeles.
1:07.0	Hello!
1:08.0	Hello!
1:09.0	Thank you guys so much for being here.
1:11.0	Today we are excited because we are talking all about narwhals.
1:16.0	In just in case you haven't seen a narwhal before, here's what they look like.
	...

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