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Contextual and combinatorial structure in sperm whale vocalisations

Author

Listed:
  • Pratyusha Sharma

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Project CETI)

  • Shane Gero

    (Project CETI
    Carleton University
    The Dominica Sperm Whale Project)

  • Roger Payne

    (Project CETI)

  • David F. Gruber

    (Project CETI
    City University of New York)

  • Daniela Rus

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Project CETI)

  • Antonio Torralba

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Project CETI)

  • Jacob Andreas

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Project CETI)

Abstract

Sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) are highly social mammals that communicate using sequences of clicks called codas. While a subset of codas have been shown to encode information about caller identity, almost everything else about the sperm whale communication system, including its structure and information-carrying capacity, remains unknown. We show that codas exhibit contextual and combinatorial structure. First, we report previously undescribed features of codas that are sensitive to the conversational context in which they occur, and systematically controlled and imitated across whales. We call these rubato and ornamentation. Second, we show that codas form a combinatorial coding system in which rubato and ornamentation combine with two context-independent features we call rhythm and tempo to produce a large inventory of distinguishable codas. Sperm whale vocalisations are more expressive and structured than previously believed, and built from a repertoire comprising nearly an order of magnitude more distinguishable codas. These results show context-sensitive and combinatorial vocalisation can appear in organisms with divergent evolutionary lineage and vocal apparatus.

Suggested Citation

  • Pratyusha Sharma & Shane Gero & Roger Payne & David F. Gruber & Daniela Rus & Antonio Torralba & Jacob Andreas, 2024. "Contextual and combinatorial structure in sperm whale vocalisations," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-9, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-024-47221-8
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-47221-8
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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