The Whitehead Lab and Sperm Whales
The Whitehead Lab began collecting acoustic, behavioral, and ecological data on sperm whales off the Galápagos Islands in 1985. With data now spanning over 30 years, fascinating insights on the social behaviour and culture of sperm whales have been uncovered. Sperm whales in the region form a complex, multi-level social structure in which the broadest level--the clans--can be identified by distinct vocal dialects and characterized by different movement patterns, distributions, ecological success, and social behaviour. In 2005, we extended our geographic scope to the waters off Dominica (Eastern Caribbean), where Dr. Shane Gero (former Ph.D. student) established the Dominica Sperm Whale Project (link here). Today, the whales off Dominica are likely the most well-known and extensively studied in the world. More recently, our Lab's focus has expanded to cover much of the Lesser Antilles, revealing unexpected new details on the distribution and site fidelity of this oceanic species.
The Eastern Tropical Pacific and Caribbean sperm whale cases have served to push forward the recent recognition of culture as a key for the conservation of species in which behavior and ecology are highly shaped by social learning. Current efforts of our Lab members are aimed at improving our understanding of how culture relates to distribution, population dynamic and behaviour of sperm whales and to elucidate the underlying structure and evolution of their complex vocal communication system.
The Eastern Tropical Pacific and Caribbean sperm whale cases have served to push forward the recent recognition of culture as a key for the conservation of species in which behavior and ecology are highly shaped by social learning. Current efforts of our Lab members are aimed at improving our understanding of how culture relates to distribution, population dynamic and behaviour of sperm whales and to elucidate the underlying structure and evolution of their complex vocal communication system.
Current Projects
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Taylor Hersh (Ph.D. Student): Despite our general knowledge of sperm whale dialects, the question of how dialects initially evolved, and how they may (or may not) be evolving today, remains enigmatic. Given extensive acoustic research efforts in both the Tropical Pacific and the Eastern Caribbean, sperm whale dialect evolution can now be feasibly investigated. The goal of my doctoral research is to elucidate the communicative mechanisms that allow sperm whales to evolve and maintain distinct dialects in varying degrees of sympatry.
Felicia Vachon (Ph.D. Student): Although culture has been extensively studied and is considered a main driver of evolution in humans, it remains fairly controversial in animals. The objective of my thesis is, therefore, to use sperm whale as an example of the extent of culture in non-humans and highlight the importance of incorporating culture into mainstream biology. This will be achieved by comparing habitat use and behaviour between sperm whale vocal clans.
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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