Podcast appearances and mentions of Hal Whitehead

Did you know there's a mammal that can dive a mile down the ocean to hunt giant and colossal squid? And that same mammal was hunted until the 1970's to extract the oil in their head for car transmissions? Well that creature is none other than the poorly named Sperm Whale, and the fascination with them goes much more than just that Hal Whitehead, a researcher of sperm whales, discusses their habitat, hunting abilities, communication, and culture. Sperm whales can be found in oceans worldwide, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. They are able to dive to great depths by closing down certain organs and conserving oxygen. The population of sperm whales has been affected by whaling, but there are concerns about their future due to factors like ocean warming. Sperm whales communicate using clicks, and their communication patterns can be quantified and analyzed. Different groups of sperm whales have distinct cultural behaviors and strategies for hunting. Also check out Hal's amazing TED talk, where he goes into his work and provides more detail on Sperm Whale Culture. Chapters (00:00) - The Mysteries of the Ocean ~ Intro Essay (02:54) - Sperm Whales: Anatomy and Habitat (03:40) - What makes Hal happy? (05:47) - Survival in the Depths (09:08) - Communication and Social Structure (12:06) - Cultural Differences Among Pods (14:47) - The Future of Sperm Whales (17:58) - The Ongoing Mystery of Sperm Whales

Hannah's asking all the questions you ever wanted to know about whales. Did you know they have culture? She's joined by whale legend Hal Whitehead, whose close encounters with sperm whales and understanding of their culture has completely changed how we view these enormous animals. Also - we've had an update from the team onboard the Arctic Sunrise, the research ship that's on its way to the Galapagos Islands. Listen to Roger Payne's groundbreaking whale song recording here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjkxUA041nM Listen to his last ever interview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APtmz_BAWPg Follow us on IG, X and TikTok for bonus content and whale videos: @oceanspod. If you want to know more about the oceans and how to protect them, come and join us here: https://act.gp/life-under-water.

Culture is not unique to humans. This idea is becoming increasingly more accepted, and researchers are finding evidence of culture in many different species, including marine mammals. From tool use, to foraging strategies and dialects, there is evidence of social learning and transmission of information between individuals and through generations, which is the basis for culture. Sperm whales are a wonderful example of multilevel cultural society, with distinct vocal characters (akin to dialects) and nearly permanent social units that interact with other social units in their range. This paper looks at if the vocal characteristics they have constitute a symbolic marker for a group of individuals that the whales can use to identify themselves, but also other whales. Do they use this as a cultural marker defining one group from the next. Think of clothing styles, accents, and body modifications in humans that serve the same purpose. Do sperm whales use specific vocal calls to identify members of their own clan, vs. members of others? Come learn what they found and how amazing the culture of sperm whales is! Paper is open access: https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2201692119 Ted talk by Hal Whitehead on whale culture mentioned in the episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uyGXoMaXns --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/pacific-mammal-research/support

We're on a brief winter break right now, but we'll be back later in January. To tide you over, here's one of our favorite episodes from 2021: a conversation with Dr. Luke Rendell about culture in whales and dolphins. Enjoy! -- Whales and dolphins are, without a doubt, some of the most charismatic, enigmatic creatures around. Part of what draws us to them is that­—different as our worlds are from theirs, different as our bodies are—we sense a certain kinship. We know they've got big brains, much like we do. We know that some cetacean species live long lives, sing songs, and form close bonds. If you're like me, you may have also wondered about other parallels. For example, do whales and dolphins have something we might want to call culture? If so, what do those cultures look like? What sorts of traditions might these animals be innovating and circulating down in the depths? On this week's episode I chatted with Dr. Luke Rendell, a Reader in the School of Biology and a member of the Sea Mammal Research Unit at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. He's been studying cetaceans for more than two decades. He's the author, with Hal Whitehead, of the 2014 book The Cultural Lives of Whales and Dolphins. (You can probably guess by the book's title where Luke comes down on the question of cetacean culture.) Luke's work is, to my mind, an impressive blend of naturalistic observation, cutting edge methods, and big-picture theorizing. In this conversation, Luke and I do a bit of “Cetaceans 101.” We talk about what culture is and why whale song is a good example of it. We discuss lob-tail feeding in humpback whales and tail-walking in bottlenose dolphins. We talk about Luke's very recent work on how sperm whales in the 19th century may have learned from each other how to evade whalers. And we discuss why an understanding of culture may be crucial for ongoing cetacean conservation efforts. We didn't plumb all the depths of this rich topic—nor did we exhaust all the maritime puns—but we did have a far-reaching chat about some of the most fascinating beings on our planet and their distinctive cultures. As always, thanks a bunch for listening folks. On to my conversation with Dr. Luke Rendell. Enjoy!   A transcript of this episode is available here.    Notes and links 2:30 – My favorite edition of Moby Dick (for what it's worth). 6:45 – A primer on cetaceans. 9:30 – A paper on the ins and outs of the whale nose. 10:45 – A general audience article about echolocation in cetaceans, drawing on this recent academic article. 12:30 ­– A discussion of Roger Payne's storied whale song album. 19:00 – A paper on cetacean brain and body size. 19:45 – Dr. Rendell's 2001 article in Behavioral and Brain Sciences, co-authored with Hal Whitehead. The paper made a splash. 24:50 – A paper by Dr. Rendell and colleagues describing some of his work on whale song. 26:40 – The 2000 paper by Michael Noad and colleagues, presenting some of compelling early evidence for whale song as a culturally transmitted phenomenon. 28:30 – A subsequent paper by Ellen Garland, Michael Noad, and colleagues showing further evidence for the socially transmitted nature of song. 31:45 – Dr. Rendell has also done important theoretical work on social learning strategies. See, for instance, here and here. 33:24 – An article offering evidence of imitation in killer whales. 36:10 – The paper by Dr. Rendell and colleagues on lob-tail feeding in humpback whales. 36:35 – A video illustrating “bubble net feeding.” 47:45 – The paper by Dr. Rendell and colleagues on tail-walking in dolphins. 55:30 – The paper by Dr. Rendell and colleagues on 19th century sperm whales' evasion tactics, as well as a popular piece on the same. 57:00 – A website documenting various aspects of whaling history. 1:05:00 – A recent discussion of gene-culture co-evolution across animal species. 1:10:00 – A recent paper by Dr. Rendell and (many) colleagues about how an appreciation of animal culture offers important lessons for conservation.   Dr. Rendell's end of show recommendations: Dolphin Politics in Shark Bay, by Richard Connor Deep Thinkers, edited by Janet Mann The Wayfinders, by Wade Davis You can keep up with Dr. Rendell on Twitter (@_lrendell).   Many Minds is a project of the Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute (DISI) (https://disi.org), which is made possible by a generous grant from the Templeton World Charity Foundation to UCLA. It is hosted and produced by Kensy Cooperrider, with creative support from DISI Directors Erica Cartmill and Jacob Foster, and Associate Director Hilda Loury. Our artwork is by Ben Oldroyd (https://www.mayhilldesigns.co.uk/). Our transcripts are created by Sarah Dopierala (https://sarahdopierala.wordpress.com/). You can subscribe to Many Minds on Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Google Play, or wherever you like to listen to podcasts. We welcome your comments, questions, and suggestions. Feel free to email us at: manymindspodcast@gmail.com. For updates about the show, visit our website (https://disi.org/manyminds/), or follow us on Twitter: @ManyMindsPod.

Richard Beasley's provocative account of what has gone wrong in the Murray Darling Basin. Hal Whitehead on how sperm whales communicate. Nancy Wisser's weird and wonderful world of Stonehenge replicas.

New research indicates that sperm whales were able to communicate to each other in order to avoid the whalers of the 19th century. Our guest is Hal Whitehead, professor and marine biologist at Dalhousie University in Canada.

Why have whales evolved to have such incredibly large brains? This is a question that has puzzled researchers for a very long time. New research published in the Biological Journal of The Linnean Society has shed some new light on this question and perhaps got us a little closer to the answer. In this podcast we will hear from Matthew McCurry about this research, and dive a little deeper with Hal Whitehead, into some of the more complex behaviours of whales that have contributed to these incredible creatures large brains. Interviewer: Ross Ziegelmeier Produced by: Ross Ziegelmeier Speaker: Prof. Hal Whitehead, Dr Matthew McCurry

Whales and dolphins are, without a doubt, some of the most charismatic, enigmatic creatures around. Part of what draws us to them is that­—different as our worlds are from theirs, different as our bodies are—we sense a certain kinship. We know they’ve got big brains, much like we do. We know that some cetacean species live long lives, sing songs, and form close bonds. If you’re like me, you may have also wondered about other parallels. For example, do whales and dolphins have something we might want to call culture? If so, what do those cultures look like? What sorts of traditions might these animals be innovating and circulating down in the depths? On this week’s episode I chatted with Dr. Luke Rendell, a Reader in the School of Biology and a member of the Sea Mammal Research Unit at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. He’s been studying cetaceans for more than two decades. He’s the author, with Hal Whitehead, of the 2014 book The Cultural Lives of Whales and Dolphins. (You can probably guess by the book’s title where Luke comes down on the question of cetacean culture.) Luke’s work is, to my mind, an impressive blend of naturalistic observation, cutting edge methods, and big-picture theorizing. In this conversation, Luke and I do a bit of “Cetaceans 101.” We talk about what culture is and why whale song is a good example of it. We discuss lob-tail feeding in humpback whales and tail-walking in bottlenose dolphins. We talk about Luke’s very recent work on how sperm whales in the 19th century may have learned from each other how to evade whalers. And we discuss why an understanding of culture may be crucial for ongoing cetacean conservation efforts. We didn’t plumb all the depths of this rich topic—nor did we exhaust all the maritime puns—but we did have a far-reaching chat about some of the most fascinating beings on our planet and their distinctive cultures. As always, thanks a bunch for listening folks. On to my conversation with Dr. Luke Rendell. Enjoy!   Notes and links 2:30 – My favorite edition of Moby Dick (for what it’s worth). 6:45 – A primer on cetaceans. 9:30 – A paper on the ins and outs of the whale nose. 10:45 – A general audience article about echolocation in cetaceans, drawing on this recent academic article. 12:30 ­– A discussion of Roger Payne’s storied whale song album. 19:00 – A paper on cetacean brain and body size. 19:45 – Dr. Rendell’s 2001 article in Behavioral and Brain Sciences, co-authored with Hal Whitehead. The paper made a splash. 24:50 – A paper by Dr. Rendell and colleagues describing some of his work on whale song. 26:40 – The 2000 paper by Michael Noad and colleagues, presenting some of compelling early evidence for whale song as a culturally transmitted phenomenon. 28:30 – A subsequent paper by Ellen Garland, Michael Noad, and colleagues showing further evidence for the socially transmitted nature of song. 31:45 – Dr. Rendell has also done important theoretical work on social learning strategies. See, for instance, here and here. 33:24 – An article offering evidence of imitation in killer whales. 36:10 – The paper by Dr. Rendell and colleagues on lob-tail feeding in humpback whales. 36:35 – A video illustrating “bubble net feeding.” 47:45 – The paper by Dr. Rendell and colleagues on tail-walking in dolphins. 55:30 – The paper by Dr. Rendell and colleagues on 19th century sperm whales' evasion tactics, as well as a popular piece on the same. 57:00 – A website documenting various aspects of whaling history. 1:05:00 – A recent discussion of gene-culture co-evolution across animal species. 1:10:00 – A recent paper by Dr. Rendell and (many) colleagues about how an appreciation of animal culture offers important lessons for conservation.   Dr. Rendell’s end of show recommendations: Dolphin Politics in Shark Bay, by Richard Connor Deep Thinkers, edited by Janet Mann The Wayfinders, by Wade Davis You can keep up with Dr. Rendell on Twitter (@_lrendell).   Many Minds is a project of the Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute (DISI) (https://disi.org), which is made possible by a generous grant from the Templeton World Charity Foundation to UCLA. It is hosted and produced by Kensy Cooperrider, with creative support from DISI Directors Erica Cartmill and Jacob Foster, and Associate Director Hilda Loury. Our artwork is by Ben Oldroyd (https://www.mayhilldesigns.co.uk/). Our transcripts are created by Sarah Dopierala (https://sarahdopierala.wordpress.com/). You can subscribe to Many Minds on Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Google Play, or wherever you like to listen to podcasts. We welcome your comments, questions, and suggestions. Feel free to email us at: manymindspodcast@gmail.com. For updates about the show, visit our website (https://disi.org/manyminds/), or follow us on Twitter: @ManyMindsPod.

Amy Remeikis from the Guardian on Canberra politics, Andrew Quilty reports on the Afghan perspective on the Brereton Report and Hal Whitehead on sperm whales.

Amy Remeikis from the Guardian on Canberra politics, Andrew Quilty reports on the Afghan perspective on the Brereton Report and Hal Whitehead on sperm whales.

New research indicates that sperm whales were able to communicate to each other in order to avoid the whalers of the 19th century. Our guest is Hal Whitehead, professor and marine biologist at Dalhousie University in Canada.

Halifax-based marine biologist Hal Whitehead has spent 40 years analyzing sperm whale culture. He joins us to talk about his new study, which shows sperm whales in the 19th century shared information about whalers on the attack, in order to survive the threat.

In this episode we interview Dr. Hal Whitehead in his backyard, which overlooks the ocean inHerring Cove, Nova Scotia. Dr. […] The post Sciographies – Episode 16 – Hal Whitehead, Marine Biologist appeared first on CKDU Podcasts.

Animal societies have culture, too, as science keeps showing us ever since Dr. Jane Goodall first pointed it out, and on this episode we explore the culture and social learning of sperm whales, scarlet macaws, and chimpanzees with author Carl Safina and whale culture researcher Hal Whitehead. Safina examines how these species are equipped to live in their worlds by learning from other individuals in their social groups — which he argues is just as important as their genetic inheritance — in his new book, Becoming Wild: How Animal Cultures Raise Families, Create Beauty, and Achieve Peace. In the book, he calls Hal Whitehead “the pioneering sperm whale researcher” who has studied social learning in whales and dolphins for decades. A professor at Canada’s Dalhousie University, he was one of the first scientists to examine the complex social lives of sperm whales and their distinctive calls known as codas, and appears on the podcast today to play some recordings of them and tell us about sperm whale culture and social learning. See all our latest news from nature's frontline at Mongabay's homepage: news.mongabay.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by searching for @mongabay. Please visit www.patreon.com/mongabay to pledge a dollar or more to keep this show growing, Mongabay is a nonproft media outlet and all support helps! Supporting at the $10/month level now delivers access to Insider Content at Mongabay.com, too, please visit the link above for details. And please invite your friends to subscribe to the Mongabay Newscast on Android, the Google Podcasts app, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, via Pandora or Spotify, or wherever they get podcasts. Feedback is always welcome: submissions@mongabay.com.

In honour of Earth Day we're bringing you a beautiful story showcasing the wondrous, weird life this earth holds, from social sperm whales to the delightful scientist who studies them. Dive into the life of Hal Whitehead and be amazed by this beautiful world.Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/constellatestories)

------------------Support the channel------------ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedissenter SubscribeStar: https://www.subscribestar.com/the-dissenter PayPal: paypal.me/thedissenter PayPal Subscription 1 Dollar: https://tinyurl.com/yb3acuuy PayPal Subscription 3 Dollars: https://tinyurl.com/ybn6bg9l PayPal Subscription 5 Dollars: https://tinyurl.com/ycmr9gpz PayPal Subscription 10 Dollars: https://tinyurl.com/y9r3fc9m PayPal Subscription 20 Dollars: https://tinyurl.com/y95uvkao ------------------Follow me on--------------------- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thedissenteryt/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDissenterYT Anchor (podcast): https://anchor.fm/thedissenter Dr. Hal Whitehead is Professor in the Department of Biology at Dalhousie University. His work focuses mainly on the behavior, ecology, population biology and conservation of two species of deep-diving whale: the sperm and northern bottlenose. He and his team have ongoing research projects on sperm whales in the eastern Pacific (since 1985) and Atlantic (since 2004) on northern bottlenose whales off Nova Scotia (since 1998), and on pilot whales off Nova Scotia Isince 1998). They spend periods of weeks at sea on board ocean-going sailing boats collecting acoustic, visual, photographic, genetic and oceanographic data. In this episode, we talk about several aspects of whale sociality, focusing on the ones Dr. Whitehouse studies the most, like the sperm whale, the northern bottlenose whale, and the pilot whale. We discuss parental investment, alloparenting, and menopause. We talk about how their social networks are established, and how they relate to their culture. We address whale culture in general, and also how they have cumulative culture, and some examples of gene-culture coevolution in whales and dolphins. Finally, we refer to whale conservation. -- Follow Dr. Whitehead's work: Faculty page: http://bit.ly/2T00zwX Hal Whitehead's Research Group: http://bit.ly/2sMa6x4 Works on ResearchGate: http://bit.ly/32kfd3d Watch whales on YouTube: http://bit.ly/2QurBuO -- A HUGE THANK YOU TO MY PATRONS/SUPPORTERS: KARIN LIETZCKE, ANN BLANCHETTE, PER HELGE LARSEN, LAU GUERREIRO, JERRY MULLER, HANS FREDRIK SUNDE, BERNARDO SEIXAS, HERBERT GINTIS, RUTGER VOS, RICARDO VLADIMIRO, BO WINEGARD, VEGA GIDEY, CRAIG HEALY, OLAF ALEX, PHILIP KURIAN, JONATHAN VISSER, DAVID DIAS, ANJAN KATTA, JAKOB KLINKBY, ADAM KESSEL, MATTHEW WHITINGBIRD, ARNAUD WOLFF, TIM HOLLOSY, HENRIK AHLENIUS, JOHN CONNORS, PAULINA BARREN, FILIP FORS CONNOLLY, DAN DEMETRIOU, ROBERT WINDHAGER, RUI INACIO, ARTHUR KOH, ZOOP, MARCO NEVES, MAX BEILBY, COLIN HOLBROOK, SUSAN PINKER, THOMAS TRUMBLE, PABLO SANTURBANO, SIMON COLUMBUS, PHIL KAVANAGH, JORGE ESPINHA, AND CORY CLARK! A SPECIAL THANKS TO MY PRODUCERS, YZAR WEHBE, ROSEY, JIM FRANK, ŁUKASZ STAFINIAK, IAN GILLIGAN, SERGIU CODREANU, AND LUIS CAYETANO! AND TO MY EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, MICHAL RUSIECKI!

We talked with Colleen Weiler from Whale and Dolphin Conservation (https://whales.org) about how Free Willy led her to a career in orca conservation. We also talk about orca behavior, the differences in orca groups, what threats they are currently facing and what we can do to help Orca Month Orca Action Month (https://orcamonth.com/) Orca Network (http://www.orcanetwork.org/Main/) Orcas Love Rain Gardens (http://orcasloveraingardens.org/) Movies Free Willy (https://amzn.to/2IzadCl) Blackfish (https://amzn.to/2ViZW38) Damned to Extinction (http://www.dammedtoextinction.com/) Books Orca the Whale Called Killer (https://amzn.to/2DuTGLq) by Eric Hoyt The Cultural Lives of Whales and Dolphins (https://amzn.to/2XuI6Yi) by Hal Whitehead and Luke Rendell Beyond Words (https://amzn.to/2UWb4DS) by Carl Safina The World Is Blue: How Our Fate and the Ocean's Are One (https://amzn.to/2Dsg4VZ) by Sylvia Earl

Dr. Hal Whitehead is a Professor at Dalhousie University (Halifax, NS, Canada) in Biology. His research interests include the behaviour, ecology, and conservation of whales. The blog post for this episode can be found at prof-talks.com.

Prof. Hal Whitehead says Northern bottlenose whales depend on sound, but it can kill them.

In this presentation from CARTA’s Human and Non-Human Culture Symposium, Hal Whitehead (Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia) discusses “Cultures of the Open Ocean: The Sperm Whale.” Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 17826]

In this presentation from CARTA’s Human and Non-Human Culture Symposium, Hal Whitehead (Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia) discusses “Cultures of the Open Ocean: The Sperm Whale.” Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 17826]

Introduced by Peter Donaldson, Recorded by Spencer Cantley, Dalhousie University, Edited and Mixed at dBs Music'I have written a blasphemous book', said Melville when his novel was first published in 1851, 'and I feel as spotless as the lamb'. Deeply subversive, in almost every way imaginable, Moby-Dick is a virtual, alternative bible - and as such, ripe for reinterpretation in this new world of new media. Out of Dominion was born its bastard child - or perhaps its immaculate conception - the Moby-Dick Big Read: an online version of Melville's magisterial tome: each of its 135 chapters read out aloud, by a mixture of the celebrated and the unknown, to be broadcast online, one new chapter each day, in a sequence of 135 downloads, publicly and freely accessible.Starting 16 September 2012!For more info please go to: www.mobydickbigread.com

Hal Whitehead and Peter Richerson discuss their work modeling of evolution of cultural capacity and population collapse, focusing on the influence of environmental variation and different learning strategies. (February 24, 2010)

In this edition of CARTA’s Human and Non-Human Culture Series, three renowned researchers, Hal Whitehead, Andrew Whiten and UCLA’s Susan Perry discuss the fascinating world of traditions, learning, social structures and culture in primates and whales. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 17799]

In this edition of CARTA’s Human and Non-Human Culture Series, three renowned researchers, Hal Whitehead, Andrew Whiten and UCLA’s Susan Perry discuss the fascinating world of traditions, learning, social structures and culture in primates and whales. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 17799]