{"id":125,"date":"2015-02-25T21:54:34","date_gmt":"2015-02-25T16:54:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/unicornfound\/?p=125"},"modified":"2025-05-22T14:46:14","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T18:46:14","slug":"narwhal-tusk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/unicornfound\/narwhal-tusk\/","title":{"rendered":"Narwhal Tusk"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A unicorn horn!?!  Not in the traditional sense, at least.  This spiraling five-foot \u201ctusk\u201d is a actually the tooth from a male narwhal, a whale species native to Arctic waters and related to the beluga. Due to the influence of ancient lore, the horn of the &#8220;sea unicorn&#8221; was considered throughout the Middle Ages to possess curative powers, such as neutralizing poison and healing various afflictions.  Those who could afford such extravagances purchased cups made from narwhal tusks to protect themselves.  Maintaining its allure well into the later Renaissance, the remarkable specimen became a regular feature in the encyclopedic natural history museums called wunderkammers or cabinets of curiosity in Europe. <\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-medium\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"237\" src=\"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/unicornfound\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/02\/narwhaltusk-300x237.jpg\" alt=\"narwhaltusk\" class=\"wp-image-414\" srcset=\"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/unicornfound\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/02\/narwhaltusk-300x237.jpg 300w, https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/unicornfound\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/02\/narwhaltusk-100x79.jpg 100w, https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/unicornfound\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/02\/narwhaltusk-150x118.jpg 150w, https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/unicornfound\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/02\/narwhaltusk-200x158.jpg 200w, https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/unicornfound\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/02\/narwhaltusk-450x355.jpg 450w, https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/unicornfound\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/02\/narwhaltusk-600x473.jpg 600w, https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/unicornfound\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2015\/02\/narwhaltusk.jpg 761w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ivory<br>\nUndated<br>\n142 cm<br>\nNicholson Whaling Collection, Providence Public Library<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A unicorn horn!?! Not in the traditional sense, at least. This spiraling five-foot \u201ctusk\u201d is a actually the tooth from a male narwhal, a whale species native to Arctic waters and related to the beluga. Due to the influence of ancient lore, the horn of the &#8220;sea unicorn&#8221; was considered throughout the Middle Ages to <a href=\"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/unicornfound\/narwhal-tusk\/\" class=\"more-link\">&#8230;<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Narwhal Tusk<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":414,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-full-width.php","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/unicornfound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/unicornfound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/unicornfound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/unicornfound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/unicornfound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/unicornfound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":687,"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/unicornfound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125\/revisions\/687"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/unicornfound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/unicornfound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/unicornfound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/unicornfound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}