Cetacean science does not have to be pseudo-science
Rendall and Whitehead overstate the weak evidence for social learning in cetaceans as a group, including the current evidence for vocal learning in killer whales. Ethnographic techniques exist to test genetic explanations of killer whale calling behavior, and additional captive experiments are feasi...
Published in: | Behavioral and Brain Sciences |
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Main Author: | |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press (CUP)
2001
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0140525x01473961 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0140525X01473961 |
Summary: | Rendall and Whitehead overstate the weak evidence for social learning in cetaceans as a group, including the current evidence for vocal learning in killer whales. Ethnographic techniques exist to test genetic explanations of killer whale calling behavior, and additional captive experiments are feasible. Without such tests, descriptions of learning could be considered pseudo-scientific, ad hoc auxiliary assumptions of an untested theory. |
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