SciAntics

cwnl:

Sperm Whales Really Do Learn From Each Other

Sperm whales, Earth’s biggest-brained animals, live in far-flung clans with lifestyles so different and vocalizations so complex that it’s natural to think they have culture.

But is that really true? Might sperm whales simply be following genetic instructions? Could their “culture” really be a set of instinctive, mechanical imperatives?

Researchers led by Hal Whitehead of Dalhousie University and Luke Rendell of Scotland’s St. Andrews University, two of the world’s foremost sperm whale biologists, have asked just this question.

Their findings: Yes, sperm whale culture really is culture. And how.

“As far as we know, these are the largest cultures on Earth, aside from human ethnicities,” said Whitehead. “They may have thousands or tens of thousands of members, covering thousands of kilometers of ocean.”

In a study published Oct. 21 in Behavior Genetics, Whitehead and Rendell analyzed sound recordings and skin samples from 194 sperm whales in the southwest Pacific Ocean.

The whales belonged to three “vocal clans,” each possessing a distinctively different repertoire of the Morse code-like clicks used by sperm whales to communicate. Were these dialects biologically determined, the whales would have overlapped genetically as well as vocally — but that’s not what the researchers found.

Instead, whales from different clans are often genetically similar. They’re not identical, but there’s no sign of genetic differences large enough to explain clan differences. These aren’t just vocal: Each clan also differs in hunting patterns, reproductive rates and parenting habits.

(via ikenbot)