Narwhals are among the most climate-vulnerable marine mammals due to their highly specialized Arctic habitat requirements and limited ability to adapt to rapid change.
Narwhals experiencing rapid sea ice loss face multiple compounding welfare challenges: displacement from core habitat, disruption of prey availability, novel predator encounters with killer whales outside their evolutionary experience, and increased entanglement risk as shipping lanes expand into previously ice-locked areas. Narwhals trapped in sea ice during refreezing events experience exhaustion, injury, and drowning - dramatic events that kill hundreds of animals over days. The inability of narwhals to readily adapt to ecological change means that climate-driven welfare harm will compound over time unless global emissions are dramatically reduced.