Muktuk

Information on Arctic Whales

Eskimo whale hunters cut lumps of skin & blubber, muktuk, from a Bowhead Whale Point Hope. Alaska

Kigutikak Duneq dressed in caribou skin, uses a large knife to cut a piece of Maktaaq (whale skin) to eat. Qaanaaq. Thule. Northwest Greenland. 1971

Inuit family eating traditional foods at a Birthday party in Qaanaaq. N.W.Greenland. 1998

Hunters from the Yupik Eskimo village of New Chaplino, snack on fresh Muktuk (whale skin) while butchering the carcass of a grey whale that will provide food for the whole community. Checheykiyum Strait. Beringia National Park, Providensky Region, Chukotka, Russian Far East

Artiom Yakovlev, a hunter from the Yupik Eskimo village of New Chaplino, snacks on fresh Muktuk (whale skin) while helping to butcher the carcass of a grey whale that will provide food for the whole community. Checheykiyum Strait. Beringia National Park, Providensky Region, Chukotka, Russian Far East

Villagers from the native Yupik village of New Chaplino eating a traditional meal of whale meat & muktuk (whale skin)outside at a camp in the summer. Senyavinsky Strait. Beringia National Park, Providensky Region of Chukotka. Russian Far East

Inuit hunters handle frozen muktuk (whale skin) to store on meat rack. Northwest Greenland. 1987

Inuit hunter eating muktuk (whale skin) from a Narwhal. The skin is a great source of vitamins, and is a delicacy. N.W. Greenland. 1980

Inuit family eating traditional foods at a Birthday party in Qaanaaq. N.W.Greenland. 1998

Polar bear with Beluga muktuk (skin) amongst ice floes. Spitsbergen.

Polar bear burying Beluga muktuk (skin) amongst ice floes. Spitsbergen.

Polar bear with the remains of a beluga kill, with Ivory and Glaucous gull ready to scavenge. Spitsbergen.

Qulutanguaq, an Inuit man from Thule in Northwest Greenland, eating muktuk (whale skin). 1980

Qulutanguaq, an Inuit hunter, trimming fat off Mattaq (whale skin) after a Narwhal hunt at Qeqertat. Thule, Northwest Greenland. (1980)

Muktuk. In this case the skin from a Narwhal, a layer of black & white skin, one of gristle and then blubber.

A table of traditional North Greenlandic foods. Thule, N.W. Greenland. 1998

Inuit sharing a meal of muktuk (whale skin) & raw meat by a new cooker. Moriussaq, N.W.Greenland. 1987