Narwhals are among the most specialized and vulnerable cetaceans in the Arctic. Their welfare depends on stable sea ice conditions and prey availability that climate change is disrupting.
Narwhal welfare is uniquely threatened by their extreme specialization. Their dependence on specific Arctic sea ice conditions makes them among the most climate-vulnerable large mammals. When open water shipping routes expand through former ice habitat, narwhals are exposed to ship noise that causes acute stress responses including cardiac changes. Narwhals trapped in sea ice (sassat events) can die in large numbers through drowning and polar bear predation. Their sensitivity to disturbance means research requiring capture causes intense acute stress that must be carefully managed. Traditional Indigenous harvest represents a culturally important but numerically small welfare impact compared to the existential threat of climate change.