#310 Hal Whitehead: The Sociality And Culture Of Whales
RECORDED ON JANUARY 7th, 2020.
Dr. Hal Whitehead is Professor in the Department of Biology at Dalhousie University. His work focuses mainly on the behavior, ecology, population biology and conservation of two species of deep-diving whale: the sperm and northern bottlenose. He and his team have ongoing research projects on sperm whales in the eastern Pacific (since 1985) and Atlantic (since 2004) on northern bottlenose whales off Nova Scotia (since 1998), and on pilot whales off Nova Scotia Isince 1998). They spend periods of weeks at sea on board ocean-going sailing boats collecting acoustic, visual, photographic, genetic and oceanographic data.
In this episode, we talk about several aspects of whale sociality, focusing on the ones Dr. Whitehouse studies the most, like the sperm whale, the northern bottlenose whale, and the pilot whale. We discuss parental investment, alloparenting, and menopause. We talk about how their social networks are established, and how they relate to their culture. We address whale culture in general, and also how they have cumulative culture, and some examples of gene-culture coevolution in whales and dolphins. Finally, we refer to whale conservation.
Time Links:
The sperm whale, the northern bottlenose whale, and the pilot whale
Parental investment, and alloparenting
Whales that go through menopause. Do they become grandmothers?
Social networks, and multilevel animal societies
Whale culture
Do whales have cumulative culture?
Gene-culture coevolution in whales and dolphins
Can we understand culture in general better by studying whale culture?
Whale conservation
Follow Dr. Whitehead’s work!
Follow Dr. Whitehead’s work:
Faculty page: http://bit.ly/2T00zwX
Hal Whitehead’s Research Group: http://bit.ly/2sMa6x4
Works on ResearchGate: http://bit.ly/32kfd3d
Watch whales on YouTube: http://bit.ly/2QurBuO