Sperm whale clans and human societies
Sperm whale society is structured into clans that are primarily distinguished by vocal dialects, which may be symbolic markers of clan identity. However, clans also differ in non-vocal behaviour. These distinctive behaviours, as well as clan membership itself, are learned socially, largely within ma...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:9c83f72265f3477f8ceef8377a5f8586 2024-02-11T10:08:55+01:00 Sperm whale clans and human societies Hal Whitehead 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.231353 https://doaj.org/article/9c83f72265f3477f8ceef8377a5f8586 EN eng The Royal Society https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.231353 https://doaj.org/toc/2054-5703 doi:10.1098/rsos.231353 2054-5703 https://doaj.org/article/9c83f72265f3477f8ceef8377a5f8586 Royal Society Open Science, Vol 11, Iss 1 (2024) sperm whale clan ethno-linguistic group culture large-scale societies symbolic marker Science Q article 2024 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.231353 2024-01-14T01:49:07Z Sperm whale society is structured into clans that are primarily distinguished by vocal dialects, which may be symbolic markers of clan identity. However, clans also differ in non-vocal behaviour. These distinctive behaviours, as well as clan membership itself, are learned socially, largely within matrilines. The clans can contain thousands of whales and span thousands of kilometres. Two or more clans typically use an area, but the whales only socialize with members of their own clan. In many respects the closest parallel may be the ethno-linguistic groups of humans. Patterns and processes of human prehistory that may be instructive in studying sperm whale clans include: the extreme variability of human societies; no clear link between modes of resource acquisition and social structure; that patterns of vocalizations may not map well onto other behavioural distinctions; and that interacting societies may deliberately distinguish their behaviour (schismogenesis). Conversely, while the two species and their societies are very different, the existence of very large-scale social structures in both sperm whales and humans supports some primary drivers of the phenomenon that are common to both species (such as cognition, cooperation, culture and mobility) and contraindicates others (e.g. tool-making and syntactic language). Article in Journal/Newspaper Sperm whale Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Royal Society Open Science 11 1 |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
sperm whale clan ethno-linguistic group culture large-scale societies symbolic marker Science Q |
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sperm whale clan ethno-linguistic group culture large-scale societies symbolic marker Science Q Hal Whitehead Sperm whale clans and human societies |
topic_facet |
sperm whale clan ethno-linguistic group culture large-scale societies symbolic marker Science Q |
description |
Sperm whale society is structured into clans that are primarily distinguished by vocal dialects, which may be symbolic markers of clan identity. However, clans also differ in non-vocal behaviour. These distinctive behaviours, as well as clan membership itself, are learned socially, largely within matrilines. The clans can contain thousands of whales and span thousands of kilometres. Two or more clans typically use an area, but the whales only socialize with members of their own clan. In many respects the closest parallel may be the ethno-linguistic groups of humans. Patterns and processes of human prehistory that may be instructive in studying sperm whale clans include: the extreme variability of human societies; no clear link between modes of resource acquisition and social structure; that patterns of vocalizations may not map well onto other behavioural distinctions; and that interacting societies may deliberately distinguish their behaviour (schismogenesis). Conversely, while the two species and their societies are very different, the existence of very large-scale social structures in both sperm whales and humans supports some primary drivers of the phenomenon that are common to both species (such as cognition, cooperation, culture and mobility) and contraindicates others (e.g. tool-making and syntactic language). |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Hal Whitehead |
author_facet |
Hal Whitehead |
author_sort |
Hal Whitehead |
title |
Sperm whale clans and human societies |
title_short |
Sperm whale clans and human societies |
title_full |
Sperm whale clans and human societies |
title_fullStr |
Sperm whale clans and human societies |
title_full_unstemmed |
Sperm whale clans and human societies |
title_sort |
sperm whale clans and human societies |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.231353 https://doaj.org/article/9c83f72265f3477f8ceef8377a5f8586 |
genre |
Sperm whale |
genre_facet |
Sperm whale |
op_source |
Royal Society Open Science, Vol 11, Iss 1 (2024) |
op_relation |
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.231353 https://doaj.org/toc/2054-5703 doi:10.1098/rsos.231353 2054-5703 https://doaj.org/article/9c83f72265f3477f8ceef8377a5f8586 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.231353 |
container_title |
Royal Society Open Science |
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11 |
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1 |
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