Catch a potvis during the 19th century was much more difficult than even Moby Dick showed. This is because not only could sperm whales learn the best ways to evade the whalers’ ships, but they could quickly share this information with other whales as well, according to a study of whaling records.
By analyzing the newly digitized logbooks kept by whalers during their hunts in the North Pacific, the researchers found that the hunters’ strike limits decreased by 58% within a few years. And it was not because the whalers got worse with the landing of their harpoons – the mammals learned of the fatal encounters of their fellow whales with humans, and they would not repeat it, the researchers explained.
“Initially, the whales reacted to the new threat posed by human hunters in the same way as for the orca, who was their only predator at the time, “lead author Hal Whitehead, a professor of biology at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, told WordsSideKick.”[The sperm whales] everyone gathered on the surface, put the baby in the middle and tried to defend by biting or slapping their tails. But when it comes to defending Captain Ahab, it’s the worst thing they could do, they made themselves a very big target. ‘
Related: Why was whaling so great in the 19th century?
The whales seem to have learned from their mistakes, and those who survived quickly have adapted – instead of using old tactics, the whalers write in their logbooks, choosing the potholes rather new, swimming fast against the wind of whalers off. powered vessels.
It appears that these clever tactics developed by individual whales have spread rapidly across the whale community, with whales learning successful escape techniques from each other, the research team found. Soon, even individuals who had never been attacked before learned to follow the lead of those who had.
The whales quickly communicated and learned with each other, and according to the researchers’ interpretation of the data, the lessons were quickly integrated into their broader culture throughout the region.
“Every whale group you meet at sea usually consists of two or three family units, and those units are regularly divided and form other groups,” Whitehead said. “So, what we think has happened is that one or two of the units that make up the group may have met people before, and those who did not carefully copy from their friends.”
Sperm whales are excellent intel-sharers: their extremely attentive, communicative nature and the fact that each family unit only stays in larger groups for a few days at a time means that they can transmit information quickly.
As studies show, this information can be news about new threats, new ways of hunting or new songs to sing.
One example of whales’ extraordinary ability to share information is the feeding of lobster tails, in which a humpback whale slaps its tail hard against the water surface, immersing itself in blowing disorienting bubbles around its prey and then scooping up the prey in its mouth. Researchers first saw this tactic used by a single whale in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in 1980, before spreading it to locals in just ten years.
Whale culture also extends much deeper than innovative ways of feeding. “Potfish are divided into acoustic climates,” Whitehead said. “They divided themselves into large generations, each with distinctive patterns of sonar clicks, like a dialect, and they form only groups with members of the same tribe.”
Different whale sounds each have different ways of singing, moving, hunting and looking after their calves. According to Whitehead, these differences are deep enough to even give some clans a survival advantage during El Niño events.
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Survival against impossible chance is a defining feature of the whales’ history, and it will be even more so as the threats to their existence increase. In the 20th century, whales, especially the 13 species that belong to the category of ‘large whales’ – such as blue whales, sperm whales and humpback whales – found they were being chased by steamships and grenade launchers that they could not escape. These whales’ numbers dropped and they soon became extinct. Now that commercial whaling is largely illegal, many large whale populations have jumped back, but they are still faced with the increasing destabilization of their habitats caused by industrial fishing. noise pollution and climate change.
Whitehead wants to delve deeper into the ways in which different whale cultures are expressed, including the benefits that a clan can help to survive by having one culture over another.
“Just like humans, you can get whales with a more conservative culture or with a more innovative culture, and we’re really interested in finding ways to look at these things,” Whitehead said.
The researchers published their findings online in the journal on March 17 Biology letters.
Originally published on Live Science.