Ana Eguiguren (Ph.D. Student): While studying sperm whale communication has revealed a great deal about sperm whale sociality and culture, it is still unclear how these sounds are structured and what are the “rules” with which they are exchanged. For my project, I will derive tools from human musicology to explore these questions. I am specifically interested in finding if there are universal rhythmic traits in sperm communication, and if any are variable across oceans, clans, and social contexts. Studying this will allow us to compare sperm whale communication to that of other species, and further our understanding of processes that shape communication.
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