Sperm whales in 19th century shared ship attack information

[Hugh]

I found this very interesting.

In today's Guardian:
Sperm whales in 19th century shared ship attack information
Whalers’ logbooks show rapid drop in strike rate in north Pacific due to changes in cetacean behaviour

A remarkable new study on how whales behaved when attacked by humans in the 19th century has implications for the way they react to changes wreaked by humans in the 21st century.
The paper, published by the Royal Society on Wednesday, is authored by Hal Whitehead and Luke Rendell, pre-eminent scientists working with cetaceans, and Tim D Smith, a data scientist, and their research addresses an age-old question: if whales are so smart, why did they hang around to be killed? The answer? They didn’t.

Using newly digitised logbooks detailing the hunting of sperm whales in the north Pacific, the authors discovered that within just a few years, the strike rate of the whalers’ harpoons fell by 58%. This simple fact leads to an astonishing conclusion: that information about what was happening to them was being collectively shared among the whales, who made vital changes to their behaviour. As their culture made fatal first contact with ours, they learned quickly from their mistakes.

Here's the whole article

Sperm whales in 19th century shared ship attack information

Whalers’ logbooks show rapid drop in strike rate in north Pacific due to changes in cetacean behaviour

www.theguardian.com

 

[mosaix]

I read this this morning, @Hugh. Interestingly they said that it happened too quickly for genetic evolution.

 

[J-WO]

We really messed up first contact.

 

[.matthew.]

Interestingly they said that it happened too quickly for genetic evolution.

If they're anything like Orcas, then this isn't surprising. Orcas teach each other and form complex societies so I don't see why other whales couldn't be like "Hey Bob, you seen those big bits of flotsam? Yea, don't go near them, they hurt."

We really messed up first contact.

Sounds like standard first contact protocol to me

 

[RJM Corbet]

I watched a thing on TV the other night about sperm whales stripping the fish of the long-lines of fishing boats. They get better at it all the time, to the point that the fishermen are losing their living in the area. Oh, here it is:
Sperm whales target fishing boats for an easy meal

“I don’t know how to quantify their intelligence but their effectiveness is almost perfect,” says Stephen Rhoads, a boat skipper who has been fishing in the area for 20 years.

“That they’re getting better at this every single year and it’s less work for them to hang out with us and take our fish than it is to dive down and get them off the bottom.

“There’s no doubt that these creatures are very smart.”

 

[RJM Corbet]