A whale washed up on the shores of Ireland, leaving officials baffled by the rare occurrence.
What happened?
On the northern coast of Ireland, a dead narwhal was spotted by a family on Sweet Nellies Beach outside Greencastle, according to Donegal Daily.
Dr. Simon Berrow, CEO of the Irish Whale and Dolphin group, described it as a "remarkable stranding."
This is the first sighting of a narwhal in Ireland on record. It's native to the Arctic and rarely seen outside of the northern waters of Canada, Russia, and Greenland.
Why is it concerning?
Though narwhals have a strong wild population and are not considered threatened or endangered, they are still being affected by a warming planet, like many other species. This could explain how the narwhal traveled so far south to Ireland.
Rising global temperatures are melting the Arctic ice in their habitat, and pollution harms the water they live in. Narwhals have also been a hunting target for centuries.
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"The narwhal is an arctic species that is mainly found in cooler waters," said Christopher O'Sullivan, minister for nature, heritage, and biodiversity, per Donegal Daily.
"Findings like this are a stark reminder of the vulnerability of wildlife in the face of a changing climate, and the need to protect them."
Narwhals are important to aquatic ecosystems as they control prey populations and contribute to nutrient cycling. The absence of the whales from their traditional habitats could have serious knock-on effects on biodiversity, with issues reaching all the way up to the human food supply.
What's being done about it?
The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group retrieved the narwhal carcass from the beach and had it sent to the Regional Laboratory in Cork for tests and analysis.
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Definitely 👍 It is hoped the results will reveal more about the narwhal's life and give clues as to why it ended up so far from home.
"To have an Arctic species stranded for the first time is somewhat unexpected," Berrow said.
"However we recorded another Arctic species, a bowhead whale, in Ireland for the first time in 2016, so maybe this reflects a breaking down [of] Arctic ecosystems as the ice melts."
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