Cultural turnover among Galápagos sperm whales
While populations may wax and wane, it is rare for an entire population to be replaced by a completely different set of individuals. We document the large-scale relocation of cultural groups of sperm whale off the Galápagos Islands, in which two sympatric vocal clans were entirely replaced by two di...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:5099007 2023-05-15T18:26:41+02:00 Cultural turnover among Galápagos sperm whales Cantor, Mauricio Whitehead, Hal Gero, Shane Rendell, Luke 2016-10-19 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5099007/ https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160615 en eng The Royal Society http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5099007/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160615 © 2016 The Authors. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited. CC-BY Biology (Whole Organism) Text 2016 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160615 2016-11-20T01:10:22Z While populations may wax and wane, it is rare for an entire population to be replaced by a completely different set of individuals. We document the large-scale relocation of cultural groups of sperm whale off the Galápagos Islands, in which two sympatric vocal clans were entirely replaced by two different ones. Between 1985 and 1999, whales from two clans (called Regular and Plus-One) defined by cultural dialects in coda vocalizations were repeatedly photo-identified off Galápagos. Their occurrence in the area declined through the 1990s; by 2000, none remained. We reassessed Galápagos sperm whales in 2013–2014, identifying 463 new females. However, re-sighting rates were low, with no matches with the Galápagos 1985–1999 population, suggesting an eastward shift to coastal areas. Their vocal repertoires matched those of two other clans (called Short and Four-Plus) found across the Pacific but previously rare or absent around Galápagos. The mechanisms behind this cultural turnover may include large-scale environmental regime shifts favouring clan-specific foraging strategies, and a response to heavy whaling in the region involving redistribution of surviving whales into high-quality habitats. The fall and rise of sperm whale cultures off Galápagos reflect the structuring of the Pacific population into large, enduring clans with dynamic ranges. Long-lasting clan membership illustrates how culture can be bound up in the structure and dynamics of animal populations and so how tracking cultural traits can reveal large-scale population shifts. Text Sperm whale PubMed Central (PMC) Pacific Royal Society Open Science 3 10 160615 |
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Biology (Whole Organism) |
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Biology (Whole Organism) Cantor, Mauricio Whitehead, Hal Gero, Shane Rendell, Luke Cultural turnover among Galápagos sperm whales |
topic_facet |
Biology (Whole Organism) |
description |
While populations may wax and wane, it is rare for an entire population to be replaced by a completely different set of individuals. We document the large-scale relocation of cultural groups of sperm whale off the Galápagos Islands, in which two sympatric vocal clans were entirely replaced by two different ones. Between 1985 and 1999, whales from two clans (called Regular and Plus-One) defined by cultural dialects in coda vocalizations were repeatedly photo-identified off Galápagos. Their occurrence in the area declined through the 1990s; by 2000, none remained. We reassessed Galápagos sperm whales in 2013–2014, identifying 463 new females. However, re-sighting rates were low, with no matches with the Galápagos 1985–1999 population, suggesting an eastward shift to coastal areas. Their vocal repertoires matched those of two other clans (called Short and Four-Plus) found across the Pacific but previously rare or absent around Galápagos. The mechanisms behind this cultural turnover may include large-scale environmental regime shifts favouring clan-specific foraging strategies, and a response to heavy whaling in the region involving redistribution of surviving whales into high-quality habitats. The fall and rise of sperm whale cultures off Galápagos reflect the structuring of the Pacific population into large, enduring clans with dynamic ranges. Long-lasting clan membership illustrates how culture can be bound up in the structure and dynamics of animal populations and so how tracking cultural traits can reveal large-scale population shifts. |
format |
Text |
author |
Cantor, Mauricio Whitehead, Hal Gero, Shane Rendell, Luke |
author_facet |
Cantor, Mauricio Whitehead, Hal Gero, Shane Rendell, Luke |
author_sort |
Cantor, Mauricio |
title |
Cultural turnover among Galápagos sperm whales |
title_short |
Cultural turnover among Galápagos sperm whales |
title_full |
Cultural turnover among Galápagos sperm whales |
title_fullStr |
Cultural turnover among Galápagos sperm whales |
title_full_unstemmed |
Cultural turnover among Galápagos sperm whales |
title_sort |
cultural turnover among galápagos sperm whales |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5099007/ https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160615 |
geographic |
Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Pacific |
genre |
Sperm whale |
genre_facet |
Sperm whale |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5099007/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160615 |
op_rights |
© 2016 The Authors. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited. |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160615 |
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Royal Society Open Science |
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3 |
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10 |
container_start_page |
160615 |
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