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How these giants of the sea develop their language
Giants of the sea with regional language variations: Sperm whales in the Mediterranean show how communication in the animal kingdom evolves—and in doing so, they remind us of the development of human language.
Sperm whales are true masters of underwater communication. These impressive marine mammals communicate with one another using short clicking sounds that they combine into characteristic sequences. But these so-called “codas” don’t sound the same everywhere—even within the relatively small Mediterranean Sea, the animals have developed regionally distinct “language variants.”
A Journey Through 20 Years of Whale Song
Researchers at the University of Bristol, led by Taylor Hersh, have been listening to sperm whales’ conversations for nearly two decades. Between 2003 and 2021, they recorded over 5,000 of these click sequences—and made a fascinating discovery: While sperm whales communicate in similar ways, their methods are by no means identical.
The scientists compared the “language” of the animals off the Greek islands with that of the whales around Mallorca and the Balearic Islands. The result was surprising: While the sperm whales in the eastern Mediterranean, near the Hellenic Trench off Crete, are fluent in both dialects, their counterparts in the west can only use their own variant.
Faster in the East, Leisurerly in the West
The difference lies in the tempo. All Mediterranean sperm whales primarily use the same basic pattern: three clicks, a short pause, then another click—the “3 plus 1” pattern, so to speak. But the eastern whales “speak” significantly faster than their western relatives. Particularly intriguing: on some days, the sperm whales off the coast of Greece switch to the slower, western variant. Why they do this is not yet fully understood—possibly under certain social circumstances.
A Story of Migration and Adaptation
The findings tell a story that began around 20,000 years ago. At that time, sperm whales migrated from Gibraltar into the Mediterranean and gradually spread eastward. Today, only a few thousand of these majestic animals remain in the Mediterranean—a small, genetically isolated population considered critically endangered. Ship collisions and fishing nets threaten their already fragile population.
As they migrated, their communication also evolved. Over the course of millennia, the animals in the east have developed their own, faster dialect, but they still occasionally use the original language variant of their ancestors—like a linguistic legacy that has not been entirely forgotten.
Cultural Evolution Underwater
Compared to their counterparts in the Pacific or the Caribbean, Mediterranean sperm whales use a relatively limited repertoire of click variations. The researchers suspect that this is related to their geographic distribution: The larger the area they inhabit, the more diverse the “language” appears to become.
Although the differences between East and West are not yet sufficient to speak of completely distinct “vocal clans”—the term scientists use for groups of sperm whales characterized by distinctive communication patterns— But the study impressively demonstrates how spatial separation and social group formation can lead to new dialects.
Parallels to Human Language
Particularly fascinating: The mechanisms that lead to the emergence of new dialects in sperm whales closely resemble human language development.
For us humans, too, geographical distance and social separation have led to a diversity of languages and dialects over the course of millennia. The variation in the tempo of the click sounds appears to be a particularly simple and effective way for sperm whales to express their group affiliation and distinguish themselves from others.
Based on the available data, the researchers cannot definitively determine whether the linguistic separation between eastern and western Mediterranean sperm whales has already been completed or is still ongoing. We may currently be in the midst of a process that will lead, over generations, to the emergence of completely distinct dialects.
The study’s findings were published in the prestigious journal *Proceedings of the Royal Society B* and offer a rare glimpse into the cultural evolution of these fascinating marine mammals—a process that spans millennia and demonstrates that language in the animal kingdom is just as vibrant and changeable as it is among humans.
Source: Royal Society Publishing - Dialect variation in Mediterranean sperm whales: royalsocietypublishing.org/.../Dialect-variation-sperm-whales