Coda repertoire and vocal clans of sperm whales in the western Atlantic Ocean

Using identity calls to detect structure in acoustic datasets

“…Coda type usage results from recent sperm whale studies suggest that the clan identity coda phenomenon extends beyond the locations considered here (e.g. Brazil: Amorim et al, 2020;Mauritius: Huijser et al, 2020). oceanicus) are listed along the bottom, with corresponding field site names in parentheses (Moran et al, 2020) clans (Regular, Plus-One, Four-Plus and putative fifth) across trials lends confidence to those clan designations.…”

“…Coda type usage results from recent sperm whale studies suggest that the clan identity coda phenomenon extends beyond the locations considered here (e.g. Brazil: Amorim et al, 2020;Mauritius: Huijser et al, 2020).…”

Toward understanding the communication in sperm whales

“…Whale communication utilizes short (<2 s) bursts of clicks produced in stereotyped patterns that can be classified into recognizable types termed codas ( Watkins and Schevill, 1977 ; Weilgart and Whitehead, 1997 ) (see Figure 2 B). Distinct vocal sperm whale dialects have been documented in the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic oceans ( Amano et al., 2014 ; Amorim et al., 2020 ; Gero et al., 2016b ; Huijser et al., 2020 ; Rendell and Whitehead, 2003 ). Each distinct socially learned clan dialect contains at least 20 different coda types.…”

Distinctive, fine‐scale distribution of Eastern Caribbean sperm whale vocal clans reflects island fidelity rather than environmental variables

“…Interactions between individuals and social units are then restricted to members of the same vocal clan , a higher‐order social structure defined by vocal dialect, that can occur in sympatry (Gero et al, 2016 ; Rendell & Whitehead, 2003 ). Vocal clans can include hundreds to tens of thousands of whales (Rendell & Whitehead, 2003 ), are identified by distinctive usage of stereotyped patterns of clicks called codas (Gero et al, 2016 ; Rendell & Whitehead, 2003 ), and have been documented worldwide (Amano et al, 2014 ; Amorim et al, 2020 ; Gero et al, 2016 ; Huijser et al, 2020 ; Rendell & Whitehead, 2003 ). Beyond acoustic differences, sperm whales from different vocal clans also display different social behaviors (Cantor & Whitehead, 2015 ), movement patterns (Vachon et al, 2022 ; Whitehead & Rendell, 2004 ), and distributions (Eguiguren et al, 2019 ; Vachon et al, 2022 ).…”

“…Vocal clans can include hundreds to tens of thousands of whales (Rendell & Whitehead, 2003), are identified by distinctive usage of stereotyped patterns of clicks called codas Rendell & Whitehead, 2003), and have been documented worldwide (Amano et al, 2014;Amorim et al, 2020;Huijser et al, 2020;Rendell & Whitehead, 2003). Beyond acoustic differences, sperm whales from different vocal clans also display different social behaviors , movement patterns (Vachon et al, 2022;Whitehead & Rendell, 2004), and distributions (Eguiguren et al, 2019;Vachon et al, 2022).…”