Whales are earth’s giants — some species have the largest brains. For decades, specialists have tried to elucidate: how smart are these mysterious creatures?
Part of a highly social family of mammals, most whale species travel in groups and communicate with each other using complex vocalisations: whale ‘songs’. In 2022, research found that whale vocalisations differ between clans of whales. They speculated that this is evidence of culture in these whales, comparing it to how human ethnolinguistic groups develop. But why would these animals need such developed levels of communication? It all comes back to the benefits of living in communities.
Recently, a team of marine biologist witnessed a sperm whale named Rounder give birth – and she wasn’t alone. Surrounding Rounder was a sperm whale group identified by local expects as Unit A. Unit A is made up of two lineages, one descended from the female named Lady Oracle, and the other from a different whale called Fruit Salad. Names get creative in this field…
On that day, the whales weren’t moving the way they usually do. They were all swimming closely, around Rounder, when suddenly, she released a gush of blood. The researchers grew concerned, until they saw a small tail emerging. Witnessing a whale birth is extremely rare, so the team took began to record the birth with aerial drones over the next 5 hours.
Birth is a dangerous ordeal for sperm whales. Being mammals, they must surface to breathe. This means that whale calves are born tail first so that they don’t drown while passing out of the mother’s birth canal.
Once the calf was out, Rounders’ relatives in Unit A clustered together to help her raise the newborn to the surface while others guarded the surroundings.
The recording done by the team came in handy. Their research, published this year in the prestigious ‘Science’, found that, aside from the presence of relatives of Rounder, there were some more distantly related whales at the birth. Even the calf’s uncle was present– a special sight given that male sperm whales usually spend their time alone.
Cooperative breeding like this, where individuals other than the mother assist in raising young, is rare but found in bird species and mammals too, but, most notably in ourselves. What the researchers witnessed is certainly reminiscent of the way we go through motherhood and birth– women have always been surrounded by mid-wives or other women at that delicate time.
Experts have speculated that this type of cooperation pushed human evolution, increasing our brain size and furthering our emotional connections. Like sperm whales and many other animals, we are a social species, often relying on the help of others in times of need. After all, it does take a village to raise a child.
Image by FWC Research is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0