Narwhals are iconic Arctic cetaceans whose spiral tusks have inspired centuries of legend. Their highly specialised ecology makes them among the most vulnerable marine mammals to Arctic climate change.
Narwhals face welfare threats that are intimately linked to environmental change. Sassat events cause mass drowning deaths — narwhals suffocating under ice they cannot break through in panic. The cardiac and vascular stress response to human disturbance documented in narwhals is so extreme (bradycardia combined with maximum swimming effort) that it represents a genuine physiological welfare crisis during any research or hunting interaction. Climate-driven changes to their habitat create novel predation pressures from orcas and reduce the ice refugia on which their survival strategy depends. Noise pollution from industrialisation of Arctic shipping routes causes chronic stress and communication disruption in these vocally complex animals. The welfare of narwhals is thus inseparable from broader Arctic environmental protection and climate action.