Dynamic Horizontal Cultural Transmission of Humpback Whale Song at the Ocean Basin Scale

One contribution of 12 to a theme issue 'Biology, cognition and origins of musicality'. We consider the evolution of cognition and the emergence of creative behaviour, in relation to vocal communication. We address two key questions: (i) what cognitive and/or social mechanisms have evolved that afford aspects of creativity?; (ii) has natural and/or sexual selection favoured human behaviours considered 'creative'? This entails analysis of 'creativity', an imprecise construct: comparable properties in non-humans differ in magnitude and teleology from generally agreed human creativity. We then address two apparent problems: (i) the difference between merely novel productions and 'creative' ones; (ii) the emergence of creative behaviour in spite of high cost: does it fit the idea that females choose a male who succeeds in spite of a handicap (costly ornament); or that creative males capable of producing a large and complex song repertoire grew up under favourable conditions; or a demonstration of generally beneficial heightened reasoning capacity; or an opportunity to continually reinforce social bonding through changing communication tropes; or something else? We illustrate and support our argument by reference to whale and bird song; these independently evolved biological signal mechanisms objectively share surface properties with human behaviours generally called 'creative'. Studying them may elucidate mechanisms underlying human creativity; we outline a research programme to do so.

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“…Garland et al [53] report that over this time period, eight different song types originated rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org Phil. Trans.…”

Section: Creativity In Animal Communicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The evolutionary roots of creativity: mechanisms and motivations

Wiggins

Tyack

Scharff

et al. 2015

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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“…For humpback whales, their song vocalizations have been extensively monitored, studied and compared for several different ocean regions [5][6][7][8][18][19][20][21]. Male humpbacks vocalize songs as breeding displays in their mating grounds, and have been observed to carry the tunes into their feeding grounds.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diel and Spatial Dependence of Humpback Song and Non-Song Vocalizations in Fish Spawning Ground

Huang¹,

Wang²,

Ratilal³

2016

Remote Sensing

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Abstract:The vocalization behavior of humpback whales was monitored over vast areas of the Gulf of Maine using the passive ocean acoustic waveguide remote sensing technique (POAWRS) over multiple diel cycles in Fall 2006. The humpback vocalizations comprised of both song and non-song are analyzed. The song vocalizations, composed of highly structured and repeatable set of phrases, are characterized by inter-pulse intervals of 3.5 ± 1.8 s. Songs were detected throughout the diel cycle, occuring roughly 40% during the day and 60% during the night. The humpback non-song vocalizations, dominated by shorter duration (≤3 s) downsweep and bow-shaped moans, as well as a small fraction of longer duration (∼5 s) cries, have significantly larger mean and more variable inter-pulse intervals of 14.2 ± 11 s. The non-song vocalizations were detected at night with negligible detections during the day, implying they probably function as nighttime communication signals. The humpback song and non-song vocalizations are separately localized using the moving array triangulation and array invariant techniques. The humpback song and non-song moan calls are both consistently localized to a dense area on northeastern Georges Bank and a less dense region extended from Franklin Basin to the Great South Channel. Humpback cries occur exclusively on northeastern Georges Bank and during nights with coincident dense Atlantic herring shoaling populations, implying the cries are feeding-related.

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“…Many studies within the song literature compare the song of different populations (Cerchio et al 2001, Darling and Sousa-Lima 2005, Murray et al 2012, Garland et al 2011, 2015. Future studies should seek to expand the current report on Colombia's stock G song via collaborative global comparisons with whale stocks in other locations.…”

Section: Article In Press -Early Viewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Future studies should seek to expand the current report on Colombia's stock G song via collaborative global comparisons with whale stocks in other locations. These collaborative efforts will help the scientific community to better understand the underlying mechanism of cultural transmission of song across ocean basins (Garland et al 2011).…”

Section: Article In Press -Early Viewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Due to the nature of migration, these distinct populations are able to transmit song across large distances (Noad et al 2000, Clark and Clapham 2004, Darling and Sousa-Lima 2005. Cultural transmission is thought to be one of the possible explanations for these large-scale changes and similarities within and between populations (Guinee et al 1983, Payne et al 1983, Garland et al 2011). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Humpback whale, <i>Megaptera novaeangliae</i>, song during the breeding season in the Gulf of Tribugá, Colombian Pacific

Perazio

Zapetis²,

Roberson³

et al. 2018

MCD

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A key feature of humpback whale behavior, documented primarily on the breeding grounds, is the repertoire of the males' song. Song is made up of single units combined together into phrases, which are repeated to make up themes. A song consists of several themes sung in succession. This study qualitatively investigates the presence and structure of song recorded in the Gulf of Tribugá in the Colombian Pacific. Data were collected between June and September 2013, from which approximately 4 hours and 30 minutes of song were analyzed from five individual whales. Three distinct themes, always sung in the same order (theme 1-theme 2-theme 3) were identified. Theme 1 was the most predominant theme overall, and was present in each song session that was analyzed. The structure of each theme is described with accompanying spectrograms, and specific acoustic parameters further illustrate theme progression and characterize differences between whales. This study serves as the first published descriptive analysis of the song of stock G in this area, and suggestions are made for future directions of investigation. Research on humpback song is used as a part of the overall efforts of Macuáticos Colombia Foundation to educate the communities of the Gulf of Tribugá about the importance of conservation, and to advocate for stricter guidelines for safe whale-watching practices. RÉSUMÉLes baleines à bosse ont été observées dans le monde entier et elles migrent chaque année entre leurs zones de nourrissage dans les latitudes élevées et les aires de reproduction aux latitudes basses. Le chant des baleines à bosse est l'un des comportements lié à l'accouplement qui a été documenté sur les aires de reproduction. Ce chant est composé d'unités simples combinées dans des phrases et qui sont répétées pour composer des thèmes. Les chants sont composés de plusieurs thèmes et sont principalement émis par les mâles. L'étude actuelle a porté sur la présence et la structure du chant des baleines à bosse du G-stock enregistré dans le golfe de Tribugá dans le Pacifique colombien.Les données ont été recueillies entre juin et septembre 2013 à l'aide d'un hydrophone SQ26-08 au cours d'excursions en bateau qui se sont déroulées 3 fois par semaine. La structure du chant a été codée en utilisant Raven Pro 1.4. Environ 4 heures et 30 minutes de chant ont été analysées et les chercheurs ont identifié trois thèmes distincts qui ont toujours été entendus dans le même ordre. Le thème 1 dominait dans tous les enregistrements et était composé de répétitions de légères variations de l'expression 'ABABABAA'. Le thème 2 était composé de répétitions des unités 'F' et 'Bl', avec des variations de la phrase de multiples unités ré-pétées dans une rangée. Le thème 3 était composé de phrases ré-pétées d'une unité longue 'upsweep' tonale 'LU', suivie par une unité courte 'upsweep' tonale 'SU', parfois avec une unité 'downsweep' dans le motif. L'unité 'S' a été entendue pendant les transitions du thème 3 au thème 1. Le thème 1 a été entendu beaucoup plus fréquemme...

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Dynamic Horizontal Cultural Transmission of Humpback Whale Song at the Ocean Basin Scale

Cited by 247 publications

References 21 publications

The evolutionary roots of creativity: mechanisms and motivations

The evolutionary roots of creativity: mechanisms and motivations

Diel and Spatial Dependence of Humpback Song and Non-Song Vocalizations in Fish Spawning Ground

Humpback whale, <i>Megaptera novaeangliae</i>, song during the breeding season in the Gulf of Tribugá, Colombian Pacific

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