THE HUNT

For generations, the Inughuit people have observed narwhals and pursued them through Greenland’s icy waters. They believe it’s time that scientists and government officials paid more attention to Indigenous knowledge.

WORDS BY GLEB RAYGORODETSKY

Qillaq Kristiansen directed his kayaM away from the ice edge and onto the open water in pursuit of a narwhal. The 35-year-old Inughuit hunter and his companions had traveled to the spring ice edge last year—half a day by dogsled from Qaanaaq, Greenland. About 750 miles north of the Arctic Circle, it is one of the northernmost towns in the world. The muffled puff of a whale’s breath escaped the glassy waters near the western end of Qeqertarsuaq, or Herbert Island. The narwhal paused at the surface—seemingly offering itself to the hunter, as some Inughuit might say. In a single sweep of his right hand, Qillaq untethered his harpoon and hurled it into the dapple-gray smudge of the narwhal’s back. Splashing its tail, the whale dived. But the harpoon, its toggle…

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National Geographic (Digital) - 1 Issue, July 2024

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