communication behavior debate Stapleton

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Arizona State University *

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331

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Biology

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Apr 24, 2024

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Marlayna stapleton March 21, 2024 BIO 331 Behavior debate Animal communication is a widely researched subject in regard to birds, primates and marine animals. One of the marine mammals that show and learn advanced communication systems are sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus). It wasn’t until the 1970s that scientist knew sperm whales used sound as a means of communication. Sperm whales perform these loud clicks and sounds through the spermaceti organ and something known as the junk department (pub med). Sound is created when a sperm whale “forces air through the right nasal passage to the monkey lips, which clap shut. The resulting  click!  bounces off one air-filled sac and travels back through the spermaceti organ to another sac nestled against the skull. From there, the click is sent forward, through the junk, and amplified out into the watery world. Sperm whales may be able to manipulate the shape of both the spermaceti organ and the junk, possibly allowing them to aim their clicks”(Wagner, E.). Sperm whale communication evolved due to their development of special organs and tubes that allow for these unique, loud series of clicks known as codas. Codas are matched or identical calls exchanged between two or more sperm whales, typically occurring in families. The anatomy of sperm whales organs used for sound are “the spermaceti organ (c), a cavity filled with almost 2,000   L of wax-like liquid, and the junk compartment (f), comprising a series of wafer-like bodies believed to act as acoustic lenses. The spermaceti organ and junk act as two connected tubes, forming a bent, conical horn of about 10   m in length and 0.8   m aperture
in large mature males. The sound emitted by the phonic lips (i)   in the front of the head is focused by traveling through the bent horn, producing a flat wavefront at the exit surface” (pub med). This behavior has developed due to their natural swimming depths being deeper and in darker waters. Sperm whales hunt for prey and spend much time in the dark parts of the ocean. Because of a lack of visibility, their communication has evolved through sound as a sensory device for echolocation allowing the whales to find prey and navigate in the darkness of the deep ocean” ( Andreas, J ) This behavior has allowed for whales to communicate across large distances which are necessary for finding mates during breeding, and foraging groups maintaining contact with their larger groups when diving deep (The Language of Giants: Understanding Sperm Whale Sound) . This is an honest communication behavior. Sperm whales rely on these loud and specialized forms of communication. Most animals spend most of their life very deep exceeding 6,000 feet in pursuit of prey and staying down for more than an hour. (Wagner, E.)” Not only are they used when foraging, communication between sperm whales also occurs within families as general communication” Vocal clans can be huge—thousands of individuals spread out over thousands of miles of ocean. Clan members are not necessarily related. Rather, many smaller, durable matrilineal units make up clans, and different clans have their own specific ways of behaving “(Wagner, E.). The alternative hypothesis to this behavior would be that whales communication has evolved due to the process of learning and the young are taught how to make these clicks and eventually codas. However, my hypothesis has a clear reason as to how this mode of communication has been made possible through physical structures and the evolution of them through time to allow for such unique, specialized, and loud language to be spoken.
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