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Hey, Short Wavers, Regina Barber here. So if I say unicorns, what comes to mind? For me, I think about the way this

legendary creature has been talked about for hundreds and hundreds of years. It's linked to magic and

fantasy. And of course, I also think of that key feature of unicorns. You know what I'm talking about.

The famous unicorn horn. You see, in medieval Europe, wealthy people could buy unicorn horns.

They looked like these long spiral horns that tapered to a point.

It almost seems like it was the strongest proof that unicorns really did exist.

That's zoologist Greg O'Coreau.

He's with Florida Atlantic University. and he doesn't study unicorns.

He studies narwhals, the Arctic whale that has a long tusk jutting out of its head.

And it's sometimes called the unicorn of the sea.

Greg says way back when, seafarers brought narwhal tusks back to Europe and passed them off as unicorn horns.

And even though they're not really unicorn horns, they're kind of magical.

I've been involved in some satellite tagging of live narwhals, obviously, and it is quite an

overwhelming experience to stand there in the water and help hold a live narwhal

and sort of feel the tusk. A tusk can be 10 feet long, and he says it's beautiful.

It almost looks like it has been fashioned and carved. It has a lovely spiral, scroll pattern to it.

So it's mesmerizing, really, in some ways.

So he was actually talking about this with my colleague, science correspondent, Nell Greenfield Boys.

And Nell, I hear you're no stranger to NARwall tusks yourself, right?

Yeah, but you know I didn't see the NARWEL tusks up close and personal like that on a narwhal.

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