Rendell and Whitehead Reading (2001): Culture in Whales and Dolphins

Question 1

What is the approach that Rendell and Whitehead (2001) take when studying the cultures of whales and dolphins?

Answer 1

ethnographic: observing patterns of behavioural variation in wild populations that cannot be explained by either genetic or environmental factors

Question 2

What species has been the only one to experimentally possess sophisticated social learning abilities?

Answer 2

Tursiops i.e. vocal and motor imitation

Question 3

Cultural transmission of information should be _____ in a broad range of environments

Answer 3

adaptive

Question 4

How are culture and biological evolution related?

Answer 4

when stable over generations, culture can strongly affect biological evolution in both theory and practice

Question 5

Vocal and behavioral cultures of killer whales are independent of what?

Answer 5

evolution of cultural faculties

Question 6

Dolphins use ____ _____ of objects, actions, and concepts to guide their behavior

Answer 6

abstract representations

Question 7

Culture is define as what?

Answer 7

• info or behavior acquired from conspecifics through some form of social learning
• exposure, social support, matched dependent learning, stimulus enhancement, observational conditioning, imitation, and goal imitation

Question 8

What is the study approach of Rendell and Whitehead?

Answer 8

1. controlled laboratory experiments (controls but less validity of captive environments) on social learning mechanisms
2. field descriptions of behavioral variation (more ambiguous)

Question 9

Describe the social structure of humpback whales, killer whales, and female sperm whales.

Answer 9

humpback = fission fusion
killer whales = natal matrilineal groups
female sperm whales = largely matrilineal
male whales = disperse to solitary lives

Question 10

What is cultural transmission?

Answer 10

spatial, temporal, social patterns of variation in behaviour that are not consistent with genetic or environmental determination of individual learning

Question 11

What are the 3 types of patterns of cultural transmission discussed?

Answer 11

1. rapid spread of a novel and complex form of behaviour through a segment of the population, indicating a largely horizontal within generation cultural process
2. mother offspring - similarity in a complex form of behaviour indicating vertical-parent offspring
3. (group specific)-differences in complex behaviour between stable groups of animals that are hard to explain by genetic differences, shared environments, or the sizes of demographic structure of the groups

Question 12

What are examples of rapid spread cultural transmission?

Answer 12

1. humpback whale songs-songs on different grounds evolve as one. horizontal cultural transmission
2. bowhead whales-change year to year, all males on migration sing the same general song
3. lobtail feeding (humpback whale)-cultural innovcations, modification of bubble cloud feeding, modified by slamming tail flukes on water-> pattern suggests social learning (accelerated fun)

Question 13

What are some examples of mother-offspring similarity cultural transmission?

Answer 13

1. beluga and humpback whales follow mothers on initial migrations and then repeat
2. sponging in bottlenose dolphins
3. killer whales-intentional stranding on beach to catch pinnipeds

Question 14

What is meant by ‘group’ in group-specific behavior?

Answer 14

group = set of animals with consistently stronger associations with each other than other members of the population over periods of months to decades

Question 15

What are examples of groups?

Answer 15

killer and sperm whales = distinctive, behavioural patterns = sympatric, sharing the same habitat and frequently interacting

Question 16

Killer whales are capable of _____ learning

Answer 16

vocal

Question 17

What are examples of group specific behavior in sperm whales?

Answer 17

cods largely determine by its numerically dominant social unit, passed down culturally in parallel with mitochondria genome, behavioral complexes => encompass vocal and physical behaviours

Question 18

Cultural traits of cetaceans = _____

Answer 18

stable!

Question 19

What are some examples of between pod variation of foraging (Group specific behavior) in killer whales?

Answer 19

• different sympatric resident pods specalize on different salmon species
• residents barely harass marine mammals

Question 20

Give 4 examples of imitation in cetaceans.

Answer 20

1. captive killer whale learned vocal repertoire of tank mate
2. calf’s output dominated by 90% of output by one call type that distinguished its mother’s repertoire from that of a female companion
3. echocodas in sperm whales-overlapping codas, match cods like dolphins match signature whistles
4. imitation of movements and “s posture” of a pinniped by a dolphin sharing teh same tank (vocal and motor imitation)

Question 21

What is the definition of teaching given by Rendell and Whitehead?

Answer 21

modifying behaviour at some cost or lack of benefit only in the presence of a naive observer such as to encourage, punish, provide experience, or set an example such that the observer acquires a skill more rapidly than it might do otherwise or never learn

Question 22

What are the effects of teaching killer whale calves how to hunt?

Answer 22

• taught calves learn faster

- fitness cost for mothers who do not give their calves much attention

Question 23

Cetaceans = _____ social learners

Answer 23

adept

Question 24

What are the life factors of cetaceans that favour social learning?

Answer 24

1. long life times
2. advanced cognitive abilities
3. prolonged parental care

Question 25

Ecological factors = _____ _____ in social learning; provide ______ ______

Answer 25

strong role; extensive mobility

Question 26

What is the use of group signatures by cetaceans?

Answer 26

minimize risk of losing others when moving

Question 27

what is the effect of the marine environment on social learning?

Answer 27

made social learning highly adaptive as cost reducing agent, adjunt to individual, learning about new niches

Question 28

How are conformist traditions advantageous to a group?

Answer 28

social norms, conformist traditions advantageous when the culture refers to coordinated behaviors and can lead to highly stable cultures

Question 29

What are the prerequisites for culture processes to have an effect on genetic evolution?

Answer 29

1. stability

2. multiculturalism

Question 30

more parent offspring = more ____ _____

Answer 30

cultural transmission

Question 31

conformist traditions = ______ group selection

Answer 31

cultural; why sperm whales won’t abandon each other

Question 32

What is cultural hitchiking?

Answer 32

selectively advantageous and matrilineally transmitted cultural variants sweep through a population, incidentally reducing the diversity of analogously transmitted mitochondrial DNA

Question 33

Group conformity both increases _______ within groups and ______ groups and thus _______ variation in behavioural phenotype to the group level

Answer 33

homogeneity, heterogeneity, elevate

Question 34

What is the relation of cooperative foraging and conformist traditions?

Answer 34

Competition for resources may occur largely between groups rather than within groups for species that forage cooperatively, which would significantly increase the adaptive value of conformist traditions, reinforcing the whole system.

Question 35

What is an example of non adaptive issues that can arise with conformity?

Answer 35

mass stranding

Question 36

What are some aspects of the natural history of whales and dolphins that have promoted the evolution of these complex cultures?

Answer 36

1. mobility
2. group stability
3. cognitive ability

Question 37

What is an important social factor common to evolution of cetaceans?

Answer 37

stable matrilineal groups

Question 38

What is an important ecological factor common to evolution of cetaceans?

Answer 38

env. variability

env. mobility

Question 39

According to Rendell and Whitehead, do cetaceans have culture?

Answer 39

yes, do have culture