The narluga is a hybrid animal that is a mix between a narwhal and a beluga. This type of hybrid whale was discovered by an Inuit subsistence hunter, Jens Larsen, in the 1980s when he killed three of them off the coast of Disko Bay, Greenland.
The whale has a grey skin as opposed to the white, light skin of a beluga. The skull of a narluga is different to a narwhal due to the lack long, helical tusks that extend from the snout of the male narwhals. Other traits that are blended between the two animals include the flippers that resemble that of a beluga, and the narwhal-like tails.
Mads Peter Heide-Jorgensen discovered the evidence of these creatures in 1990 when collecting specimens of narwhals in the Western coast of Greenland. He came across a skull on the roof of Jens Larsens, that had top teeth that pointed forward, some that were spiraling out, and enough evidence to suggest it was unique from either a narwhal or beluga by sharing characteristics of both.
The skull was donated to the Natural History Museum of Denmark for analysis. Eventually it was discovered through genomic analysis of DNA extracted from the skull, that it belonged to a first generation son of a narwhal mother and beluga father. The DNA that was taken from the teeth and bones was compared directly to tissue samples of both belugas and narwhals. The analysis revealed that it was fifty-fifty, narwhal and beluga.
A.Narwhal, B.Narluga, C.Beluga
