WIKIMEDIA, GABRIEL BARATHIEU
Female sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) develop complicated social networks to raise their young, according to a study published last month (February 4) in Animal Behaviour.
To track elusive sperm whales, which spend over half their lives hunting squid deep below the surface, researchers from Dalhousie University in Canada and Scotland’s University of Saint Andrews followed nine whale families off the coast of the Caribbean nation of Dominica during a six-year period. The scientists noted which whales surfaced with each other to breathe, and found that the whales swam with many different individuals in their group of roughly a dozen adult females and their calves. At the same time, many whales also had favorite companions with whom they spent more time. These relationships shifted over the ...
