Two men in wetsuits stand in the water interacting with a large marine animal against a pale, watery background.

The New England Chapter of The Explorers Club

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Dr. Martin Nweeia examines teeth on a near-daily basis, but there is one type of tooth that has long held his fascination &mdash; one that has taken him to some of the world&#39;s most remote and isolated areas.For more than 25 years, the Sharon, Connecticut-based dentist, leading a team of researchers, has been examining the form, purpose and function of the long, straight and spiraled tusk of the narwhal, Primarily found in males; it is a canine tooth that grows from the upper jaw &mdash; sometimes up to 10 feet long. &quot;I think it is an animal that stimulates the imagination of the child within us all,&quot; said Nweeia, a marine mammal dental expert and one of the world&rsquo;s top narwhal scientists.Although myths and legends have surrounded narwhals, scientists like Dr. Martin Nweeia have uncovered facts about narwhals that make these animals even more incredible. Get to know the mysterious marine mammals of the Arctic that have fascinated humans for centuries. Learning from the Arctic&rsquo;s Original ExplorersBecause the Inuit are legally allowed to do subsistence hunting on narwhals, Nweeia was able to get remnants from them and take samples back home. The Inuit already described the tusks more comprehensively than anyone in Western science. They could tell from a tusk where a particular animal was from, which Nweeia found extraordinary: A shorter, thicker task would mean that they came from further north; longer and thinner tusks came from further south.They knew the female tusk, when present, is thinner and more tightly wound. The tusk seems very rigid, but when he was in the field with Inuit hunters, they would say, &ldquo;Oh, no, no, the tusk bends and flexes.&rdquo; Most scientists, including myself and other dental experts, thought that would be impossible. So Nweeia got the material back in the lab, and to everyone&rsquo;s surprise, except the Inuit, the tusk was found to have flexibility that enabled it to bend and flex 12 degrees in all directions. Nweeia realized that Inuit traditional knowledge was a pivotal link to inform and guide the science.Dr. Nweeia has just released a new book titled <a fr-original-style="" href="https://www.narwhal.org/store/p/narwhal-book" style="text-decoration-color: currentcolor; user-select: auto; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">Narwhal: Revealing an Arctic Legend&nbsp;</a>With an introduction by renowned oceanographer and National Geographic Explorer at Large Dr. Sylvia A. Earle.Learn more at his website: <a fr-original-style="" href="https://www.narwhal.org/" style="text-decoration-color: currentcolor; user-select: auto; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">https://www.narwhal.org</a>/

Dr. Martin Nweeia examines teeth on a near-daily basis, but there is one type of tooth that has long held his fascination — one that has taken him to some of the world's most remote and isolated areas.For more than 25 years, the Sharon, Connecticut-based dentist, leading a team of researchers, has been examining the form, purpose and function of the long, straight and spiraled tusk of the narwhal, Primarily found in males; it is a canine tooth that grows from the upper jaw — sometimes up to 10 feet long. "I think it is an animal that stimulates the imagination of the child within us all," said Nweeia, a marine mammal dental expert and one of the world’s top narwhal scientists.Although myths and legends have surrounded narwhals, scientists like Dr. Martin Nweeia have uncovered facts about narwhals that make these animals even more incredible. Get to know the mysterious marine mammals of the Arctic that have fascinated humans for centuries. Learning from the Arctic’s Original ExplorersBecause the Inuit are legally allowed to do subsistence hunting on narwhals, Nweeia was able to get remnants from them and take samples back home. The Inuit already described the tusks more comprehensively than anyone in Western science. They could tell from a tusk where a particular animal was from, which Nweeia found extraordinary: A shorter, thicker task would mean that they came from further north; longer and thinner tusks came from further south.They knew the female tusk, when present, is thinner and more tightly wound. The tusk seems very rigid, but when he was in the field with Inuit hunters, they would say, “Oh, no, no, the tusk bends and flexes.” Most scientists, including myself and other dental experts, thought that would be impossible. So Nweeia got the material back in the lab, and to everyone’s surprise, except the Inuit, the tusk was found to have flexibility that enabled it to bend and flex 12 degrees in all directions. Nweeia realized that Inuit traditional knowledge was a pivotal link to inform and guide the science.Dr. Nweeia has just released a new book titled <a href="https://www.narwhal.org/store/p/narwhal-book" target="_blank">Narwhal: Revealing an Arctic Legend </a>With an introduction by renowned oceanographer and National Geographic Explorer at Large Dr. Sylvia A. Earle.Learn more at his website: <a href="https://www.narwhal.org/" target="_blank">https://www.narwhal.org</a>/

The New England Chapter of The Explorers Club

Speaker Series: Narwhals with Dr. Martin Nweeia FN'99

1060 Broadway

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