Whale and dolphin experts were stunned when a narwhal washed up on Sweet Nellies Beach in County Donegal. This species of whale has never been seen in Irish waters before.
“We can confirm that a female narwhal, a species never before recorded in Ireland, was discovered in County Donegal last weekend and has since been retrieved for scientific examination,” says Niall Ó Donnchú, Director General of the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) in a statement. “This is an extraordinary and unprecedented event.”
A family stumbled upon the carcass of the 2.42m narwhal while walking along the beach. The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) were alerted to the stranding and local volunteers jumped into action, taking photos to confirm the species and facilitating its removal so it could be taken for post-mortem.
“I couldn’t believe it when I saw the photographs,” says IWDG stranding officer Stephanie Levesque. “After consulting some books, the only thing it could be was a narwhal, but I knew they had never been washed up, or seen in Ireland before.”
The creature – which is usually found in the Arctic – was dissected to determine its cause of death, but the results are not yet available. Its skeleton will be given to the National Museum of Ireland (Natural History).
“I’d like to thank everyone who was involved in retrieving the stranded narwhal for their rapid response and collaboration,” says Christopher O’Sullivan TD, the Irish Minister for Nature, Heritage and Biodiversity. “This is a significant event and it is important that we try to find out more about why this species arrived on our coastline.”
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Narwhals are a type of whale known for their long tusks (which are a modified tooth), which gives rise to their nickname 'the unicorn of the sea'. However, like most female narwhals, this stranded individual didn’t have a tusk – typically, only males have these striking horns protruding from their heads.
Finding a polar species in Ireland is somewhat alarming as it could suggest that climate change is having an impact on the lives of these special cetaceans.
“It’s a remarkable stranding,” says Dr Simon Berrow, CEO of the IWDG. “To have an Arctic species stranded for the first time is somewhat unexpected. 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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Top image: Narwhal on Sweet Nellies Beach in Ireland on 15 November 2025. Credit: Alena Kunkel, IWDG
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