Evidence from sperm whale clans of symbolic marking in non-human cultures
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...
Published in: | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
Other Authors: | , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
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2023
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10023/27122 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2201692119 |
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ftstandrewserep:oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/27122 |
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record_format |
openpolar |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of St Andrews: Digital Research Repository |
op_collection_id |
ftstandrewserep |
language |
English |
topic |
Culture Symbolic markers Bioacoustics Distribution Sperm whales QH301 Biology QL Zoology DAS MCC QH301 QL |
spellingShingle |
Culture Symbolic markers Bioacoustics Distribution Sperm whales QH301 Biology QL Zoology DAS MCC QH301 QL Hersh, Taylor A. Gero, Shane Rendell, Luke Cantor, Maurício Weilgart, Lindy Amano, Masao Dawson, Stephen M. Slooten, Elisabeth Johnson, Christopher M. Kerr, Iain Payne, Roger Rogan, Andy Antunes, Ricardo Andrews, Olive Ferguson, Elizabeth L. Hom-Weaver, Cory Ann Norris, Thomas F. Barkley, Yvonne M. Merkens, Karlina P. Oleson, Erin M. Doniol-Valcroze, Thomas Pilkington, James F. Gordon, Jonathan Fernandes, Manuel Guerra, Marta Hickmott, Leigh Whitehead, Hal Evidence from sperm whale clans of symbolic marking in non-human cultures |
topic_facet |
Culture Symbolic markers Bioacoustics Distribution Sperm whales QH301 Biology QL Zoology DAS MCC QH301 QL |
description |
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 indicators of cultural group membership to conspecifics. Using acoustic data collected from 23 Pacific Ocean locations, we provide quantitative evidence that certain sperm whale acoustic signals exhibit spatial patterns consistent with a symbolic marker function. Culture segments sperm whale populations into behaviorally distinct clans, which are defined based on dialects of stereotyped click patterns (codas). We classified 23,429 codas into types using contaminated mixture models and hierarchically clustered coda repertoires into seven clans based on similarities in coda usage; then we evaluated whether coda usage varied with geographic distance within clans or with spatial overlap between clans. Similarities in within-clan usage of both “identity codas” (coda types diagnostic of clan identity) and “nonidentity codas” (coda types used by multiple clans) decrease as space between repertoire recording locations increases. However, between-clan similarity in identity, but not nonidentity, coda usage decreases as clan spatial overlap increases. This matches expectations if sympatry is related to a measurable pressure to diversify to make cultural divisions sharper, thereby providing evidence that identity codas function as symbolic markers of clan identity. Our study provides quantitative evidence of arbitrary traits, resembling human ethnic markers, conveying cultural identity outside of humans, and highlights remarkable similarities in the distributions of human ethnolinguistic groups and sperm whale clans. Peer reviewed |
author2 |
University of St Andrews. School of Biology University of St Andrews. Centre for Social Learning & Cognitive Evolution University of St Andrews. Centre for Biological Diversity University of St Andrews. Sea Mammal Research Unit University of St Andrews. Institute of Behavioural and Neural Sciences University of St Andrews. Bioacoustics group University of St Andrews. Marine Alliance for Science & Technology Scotland |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Hersh, Taylor A. Gero, Shane Rendell, Luke Cantor, Maurício Weilgart, Lindy Amano, Masao Dawson, Stephen M. Slooten, Elisabeth Johnson, Christopher M. Kerr, Iain Payne, Roger Rogan, Andy Antunes, Ricardo Andrews, Olive Ferguson, Elizabeth L. Hom-Weaver, Cory Ann Norris, Thomas F. Barkley, Yvonne M. Merkens, Karlina P. Oleson, Erin M. Doniol-Valcroze, Thomas Pilkington, James F. Gordon, Jonathan Fernandes, Manuel Guerra, Marta Hickmott, Leigh Whitehead, Hal |
author_facet |
Hersh, Taylor A. Gero, Shane Rendell, Luke Cantor, Maurício Weilgart, Lindy Amano, Masao Dawson, Stephen M. Slooten, Elisabeth Johnson, Christopher M. Kerr, Iain Payne, Roger Rogan, Andy Antunes, Ricardo Andrews, Olive Ferguson, Elizabeth L. Hom-Weaver, Cory Ann Norris, Thomas F. Barkley, Yvonne M. Merkens, Karlina P. Oleson, Erin M. Doniol-Valcroze, Thomas Pilkington, James F. Gordon, Jonathan Fernandes, Manuel Guerra, Marta Hickmott, Leigh Whitehead, Hal |
author_sort |
Hersh, Taylor A. |
title |
Evidence from sperm whale clans of symbolic marking in non-human cultures |
title_short |
Evidence from sperm whale clans of symbolic marking in non-human cultures |
title_full |
Evidence from sperm whale clans of symbolic marking in non-human cultures |
title_fullStr |
Evidence from sperm whale clans of symbolic marking in non-human cultures |
title_full_unstemmed |
Evidence from sperm whale clans of symbolic marking in non-human cultures |
title_sort |
evidence from sperm whale clans of symbolic marking in non-human cultures |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/10023/27122 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2201692119 |
genre |
Sperm whale |
genre_facet |
Sperm whale |
op_relation |
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 281524973 3da5403e-39f1-475f-863d-ea8b71c649b5 85137563120 Hersh , T A , Gero , S , Rendell , L , Cantor , M , Weilgart , L , Amano , M , Dawson , S M , Slooten , E , Johnson , C M , Kerr , I , Payne , R , Rogan , A , Antunes , R , Andrews , O , Ferguson , E L , Hom-Weaver , C A , Norris , T F , Barkley , Y M , Merkens , K P , Oleson , E M , Doniol-Valcroze , T , Pilkington , J F , Gordon , J , Fernandes , M , Guerra , M , Hickmott , L & Whitehead , H 2022 , ' Evidence from sperm whale clans of symbolic marking in non-human cultures ' , Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America , vol. 119 , no. 37 , e2201692119 . https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2201692119 0027-8424 Jisc: 608281 ORCID: /0000-0002-1121-9142/work/120051671 https://hdl.handle.net/10023/27122 doi:10.1073/pnas.2201692119 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2201692119 |
container_title |
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |
container_volume |
119 |
container_issue |
37 |
_version_ |
1796932367975186432 |
spelling |
ftstandrewserep:oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/27122 2024-04-21T08:12:20+00:00 Evidence from sperm whale clans of symbolic marking in non-human cultures Hersh, Taylor A. Gero, Shane Rendell, Luke Cantor, Maurício Weilgart, Lindy Amano, Masao Dawson, Stephen M. Slooten, Elisabeth Johnson, Christopher M. Kerr, Iain Payne, Roger Rogan, Andy Antunes, Ricardo Andrews, Olive Ferguson, Elizabeth L. Hom-Weaver, Cory Ann Norris, Thomas F. Barkley, Yvonne M. Merkens, Karlina P. Oleson, Erin M. Doniol-Valcroze, Thomas Pilkington, James F. Gordon, Jonathan Fernandes, Manuel Guerra, Marta Hickmott, Leigh Whitehead, Hal University of St Andrews. School of Biology University of St Andrews. Centre for Social Learning & Cognitive Evolution University of St Andrews. Centre for Biological Diversity University of St Andrews. Sea Mammal Research Unit University of St Andrews. Institute of Behavioural and Neural Sciences University of St Andrews. Bioacoustics group University of St Andrews. Marine Alliance for Science & Technology Scotland 2023-03-08 8 2459670 application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/10023/27122 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2201692119 eng eng Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 281524973 3da5403e-39f1-475f-863d-ea8b71c649b5 85137563120 Hersh , T A , Gero , S , Rendell , L , Cantor , M , Weilgart , L , Amano , M , Dawson , S M , Slooten , E , Johnson , C M , Kerr , I , Payne , R , Rogan , A , Antunes , R , Andrews , O , Ferguson , E L , Hom-Weaver , C A , Norris , T F , Barkley , Y M , Merkens , K P , Oleson , E M , Doniol-Valcroze , T , Pilkington , J F , Gordon , J , Fernandes , M , Guerra , M , Hickmott , L & Whitehead , H 2022 , ' Evidence from sperm whale clans of symbolic marking in non-human cultures ' , Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America , vol. 119 , no. 37 , e2201692119 . https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2201692119 0027-8424 Jisc: 608281 ORCID: /0000-0002-1121-9142/work/120051671 https://hdl.handle.net/10023/27122 doi:10.1073/pnas.2201692119 Culture Symbolic markers Bioacoustics Distribution Sperm whales QH301 Biology QL Zoology DAS MCC QH301 QL Journal article 2023 ftstandrewserep https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2201692119 2024-03-27T15:07:39Z 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 indicators of cultural group membership to conspecifics. Using acoustic data collected from 23 Pacific Ocean locations, we provide quantitative evidence that certain sperm whale acoustic signals exhibit spatial patterns consistent with a symbolic marker function. Culture segments sperm whale populations into behaviorally distinct clans, which are defined based on dialects of stereotyped click patterns (codas). We classified 23,429 codas into types using contaminated mixture models and hierarchically clustered coda repertoires into seven clans based on similarities in coda usage; then we evaluated whether coda usage varied with geographic distance within clans or with spatial overlap between clans. Similarities in within-clan usage of both “identity codas” (coda types diagnostic of clan identity) and “nonidentity codas” (coda types used by multiple clans) decrease as space between repertoire recording locations increases. However, between-clan similarity in identity, but not nonidentity, coda usage decreases as clan spatial overlap increases. This matches expectations if sympatry is related to a measurable pressure to diversify to make cultural divisions sharper, thereby providing evidence that identity codas function as symbolic markers of clan identity. Our study provides quantitative evidence of arbitrary traits, resembling human ethnic markers, conveying cultural identity outside of humans, and highlights remarkable similarities in the distributions of human ethnolinguistic groups and sperm whale clans. Peer reviewed Article in Journal/Newspaper Sperm whale University of St Andrews: Digital Research Repository Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 119 37 |