Evidence from sperm whale clans of symbolic marking in non-human cultures

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
• Main Authors: Hersh, T., Gero, S., Rendell, L., Cantor, M., Weilgart, L., Amano, M., Dawson, S., Slooten, E., Johnson, C., Kerr, I., Payne, R., Rogan, A., Antunes, R., Andrews, O., Ferguson, E., Hom-Weaver, C., Norris, T., Barkley, Y., Merkens, K., Oleson, E., Doniol-Valcroze, T., Pilkington, J., Gordon, J., Fernandes, M., Guerra, M., Hickmott, L., Whitehead, H.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2022
• Subjects: Pacific; Pillar; Sperm whale
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-000A-FBDF-1; http://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-000A-FBE1-D; http://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-000A-FBE2-C

Culture, a pillar of the remarkable ecological success of humans, is increasingly recognized as a powerful force structuring nonhuman animal populations. A key gap between these two types of culture is quantitative evidence of symbolic markers—seemingly arbitrary traits that function as reliable ind...