Narwhals are fascinating to watch because of their unique appearance and secretive lifestyles under the ice.
Scientists have made a number of important discoveries in the last few years, including how to save some populations from ourselves.
The narwhal's motions through the oceans are a complicated affair to keep track of, as they are dependent on sea ice for their life cycle.
Researchers have been able to shed light on what seemed like irregular daily behavior in the movements of narwhals, thanks to chaos theory.
A lack of adequate methods to analyze records of irregular behavior is the subject of a new study.
Podolskiy and Heide-Jrgensen collaborated to find a new way of finding patterns in the narwhals' habits.
Chaos theory is the study of activity that is not predictable.
It's a case of dependable physics piling up in a way that no system can keep track of.
The meanderings of the narwhal aren't clear to our human brains.
An adult male narwhal had a time-depth recorder attached to his back that recorded his movements for 83 days.
A method that uses mathematical tactics borrowed from chaos theory was developed by Podolskiy and Heide-Jrgensen.
The researchers say that these techniques can reveal hidden states, known asattractors, which can lead to chaotic systems.
Scientists can use them to find hard to detect patterns in complex processes.
Chaos theory helped uncover a hidden daily pattern for this narwhal, as well as novel details about how those habits can be influenced by seasonal change.
The tagged narwhal tended to rest closer to the surface around midday, but when he did dive at this time, he plummeted down into the depths.
The researchers theorize that the narwhal was hunting for squid and so the dives were more intense.
The study found that the narwhal adjusted his pattern in response to sea ice.
He reduced his surface activity at times when sea ice was more abundant.
Even though Narwhals are not listed as an "endangered" species by the International Union for Conservancy of Nature, they are still vulnerable to human activities such as ship traffic and water pollution. Populations may be at risk of vanishing.
The lives of narwhals are intertwined with sea ice, which is rapidly dwindling, and insights about their behavior could be valuable in protecting them.
The researchers wrote that chaos theory could be used to analyze animal behavior more broadly.
This approach is still in its infancy and may help us understand the challenges faced by other wildlife due to rising temperatures and diminishing sea ice.
There will be more research needed since the new study only looks at one individual.
The researchers noted that comparable records often cover just a few days.
"Our approach is relatively simple to implement, and can map and label long-term data, identify differences between the behavior of individual animals and different species, and also detecting changes in behavior caused by changing influences," the authors explain.
There was a study published.
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