The following paper has been published online on the FirstCite
service of the Royal Society (available through
<a href="http://www.pubs.royalsoc.ac.uk/";
rel="nofollow">http://www.pubs.royalsoc.ac.uk/</a>); it is scheduled to appear
in print
in February. Anyone unable to access the website can email me
([EMAIL PROTECTED]) for a pdf.
Cheers,
Luke
Title: Vocal clans in sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus)
Author(s): Rendell and Whitehead
Source: Proceedings: Biological Sciences
DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2002.2239
Publisher: The Royal Society
Abstract: Cultural transmission may be a significant source of
variation in the behaviour of whales and dolphins, especially as
regards their vocal signals. We studied variation in the vocal output
of 'codas' by sperm whale social groups. Codas are patterns of clicks
used by female sperm whales in social circumstances. The coda
repertoires of all known social units (n = 18, each consisting of
about 11 females and immatures with long-term relationships) and 61
out of 64 groups (about two social units moving together for periods
of days) that were recorded in the South Pacific and Caribbean between
1985 and 2000 can be reliably allocated into six acoustic 'clans',
five in the Pacific and one in the Caribbean. Clans have ranges that
span thousands of kilometres, are sympatric, contain many thousands of
whales and most probably result from cultural transmission of vocal
patterns. Units seem to form groups preferentially with other units of
their own clan. We suggest that this is a rare example of sympatric
cultural variation on an oceanic scale. Culture may thus be a more
important determinant of sperm whale population structure than genes
or geography, a finding that has major implications for our
understanding of the species' behavioural and population biology.
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Luke Rendell
Dept of Biology
Dalhousie University
Halifax, Nova Scotia
B3H 4J1
CANADA
NOTE NEW E-mail : [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Tel : (902) 494 3723
WWW : <a href="http://is.dal.ca/~whitelab/";
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