Researchers eavesdropping on sperm giant living in the eastern Pacific Ocean have observe that the whales discover to vocalize like others around them . These unlike kin group with their own accent likely emerged through ethnical encyclopaedism , fit in to findings write inNature Communicationsthis week . A like process is think to underlie the formation of divers human cultures , or the behaviour we partake with others within the same chemical group .
While male sperm hulk ( genus Physeter macrocephalus ) are nonsocial and live closer to the poles , females live in multi - unwavering smart set : Individuals within family units aggroup together into larger clans . These massive , toothy cetacean mammal intercommunicate using a serial of clink ( call coda ) , and researchers have been able to distinguish kin group base on alike pattern in their outspoken repertory recorded with hydrophones . However , it ’s unclear how different kindred issue in the sea where there are no physical barriers to separate them .
To inquire , a team top byDalhousie University’sMaurício Cantor examined a dataset of sperm hulk social interaction and vocalism off the Galápagos Islands span 18 year . These whale belonged to three nest social grade : soul , societal units , and outspoken kindred . Social units consisted of about 12 giant that have live and moved together for years based on pic of markings on tail fluke ; tribe check many societal social unit and thousands of whales with a gamy law of similarity in their finale repertory . The squad then created a example that simulates interactions between single whales to screen if clan structure could arise from evolving vocal behavior .
Based on their simulation , clans belike arose when whale preferentially learned the vocalizations of other whales that comport like themselves . entropy flow within smaller groups helped keep kin coherence . This is one more column of funding for the idea that animals have culture , Cantor toldNational Geographic . Other scenarios , such as the genetic inheritance of call structures , ca n’t excuse the patterns observed in the wild .
" We all be given to interact more with likeminded individuals , " precentor tellsCBC . " I just find really , really fascinating that an animal that is altogether dissimilar and lives in a altogether different environment – they have some striking similarities with our societies . ”
