Narwhals — the unicorns of the sea — face mounting welfare threats as sea ice retreats, shipping lanes expand, and prey availability shifts with climate change.
Narwhals show measurable stress responses — including elevated cortisol and altered heart rate — when disturbed by boat traffic or entangled in fishing gear. As sea ice declines, they are increasingly exposed to disturbances previously buffered by geography. Ice entrapment events (savssats), where narwhals become trapped in rapidly freezing leads, are poorly understood but can cause mass mortality and significant pre-death suffering. The species' extreme sensitivity to disturbance makes them particularly vulnerable to the expanding human footprint in the Arctic, requiring precautionary protection of key summering and wintering areas.