Sperm whales in the Mediterranean Sea don't all speak the same way — the eastern and western populations use a different "accent." This is shown by a new study in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, which analyzed thousands of their underwater clicks. University of Bristol ↗
Biologist Taylor Hersh of the University of Bristol and her colleagues examined 5,291 so-called codas — short sequences of clicks — recorded between 2003 and 2021. The pattern "click-click-click – click" is shared, but near the Balearic Islands the animals click it out slowly, while between Greece and Crete they do so faster and more variably. Genetic analyses confirmed that the two populations are almost isolated from each other. SRF ↗
Sperm whales arrived in the Mediterranean Sea from the Atlantic about 20,000 years ago and colonized it from west to east — which is why the western dialect is older. The eastern groups still "remember" it and occasionally insert the slower version, but the reverse does not happen. Scientists consider this evidence of cultural evolution in animals. Only a few thousand sperm whales still live in the sea today, and they are threatened by shipping traffic. Proceedings of the Royal Society B ↗
Sperm whales in the Mediterranean Sea speak two dialects. Eastern whales click faster than western ones
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