Tuugaaq in Inuktitut, the Inuit language, means tusk – which refers to ivory. In the Arctic, the animals with tusks used by the Inuit are the walrus and the narwhal.

In the eastern Arctic, such as in the community of Pangnirtung where the narrator Simeonie Akpalialuk comes from, the narwhal is hunted seasonally in the spring and fall as they migrate. Walrus is hunted in the spring along the floe edge and in summer at “oodliit”, which is the Inuktitut word for a place where the walrus gather to feed and raise their young.

Today, the primary use of narwhal and walrus are for food, but in traditional times the blubber was rendered into oil for heating and lighting.

Tuugaaq actually has a dual meaning; it refers to both the tusks and the ivory. This ivory was important traditionally as a raw material for tools, equipment, toys, and small carvings.

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