Sperm whale behaviour indicates the use of echolocation click buzzes 'creaks' in prey capture

During foraging dives, sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) produce long series of regular clicks at 0.5-2 s intervals interspersed with rapid-click buzzes called 'creaks'. Sound, depth and orientation recording Dtags were attached to 23 whales in the Ligurian Sea and Gulf of Mexico to te...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences
Main Authors: Miller, Patrick, Johnson, Mark, Tyack, Peter Lloyd
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2004
Subjects:
foraging
echolocation
sperm whale
diving
PHYSETER-MACROCEPHALUS
GALAPAGOS-ISLANDS
STOMACH CONTENTS
DIVING BEHAVIOR
MARINE MAMMALS
TAG
SEA
COMMUNICATION
GREENLAND
SONAR
Creak
Galapagos
Greenland
Physeter macrocephalus
Sperm whale
Online Access:https://research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk/en/researchoutput/sperm-whale-behaviour-indicates-the-use-of-echolocation-click-buzzes-creaks-in-prey-capture(ce1fe48b-a9bf-4012-9304-a1f4c2e48bd1).html
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2004.2863
http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=16644387735&partnerID=8YFLogxK
Description
Summary:During foraging dives, sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) produce long series of regular clicks at 0.5-2 s intervals interspersed with rapid-click buzzes called 'creaks'. Sound, depth and orientation recording Dtags were attached to 23 whales in the Ligurian Sea and Gulf of Mexico to test whether the behaviour of diving sperm whales supports the hypothesis that creaks are produced during prey capture. Sperm whales spent most of their bottom time within one or two depth bands, apparently feeding in vertically stratified prey layers. Creak rates were highest during the bottom phase: 99.8% of creaks were produced in the deepest 50% of dives, 57% in the deepest 15% of dives. Whales swam actively during the bottom phase, producing a mean of 12.5 depth inflections per dive. A mean of 32% of creaks produced during the bottom phase occurred within 10 s of an inflection (13 x more than chance). Sperm whales actively altered their body orientation throughout the bottom phase with significantly increased rates of change during creaks, reflecting increased manoeuvring. Sperm whales increased their bottom foraging time when creak rates were higher. These results all strongly support the hypothesis that creaks are an echolocation signal adapted for foraging, analogous to terminal buzzes in taxonomically diverse echolocating species.

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