Author:
Eguiguren Ana,Konrad Clarke Christine M.,Cantor Mauricio
Abstract
AbstractSperm whales’ reproductive strategies are centered around their extreme sexual dimorphism, both in morphology and behavior. Females are much smaller than males and are highly social. Females live in stable, matrilineally based social units with communal care of calves, including cooperative defense and allonursing. In contrast, male sperm whales are large nearly solitary nomads. Males disperse from their natal social unit and move toward the poles, where they eat and grow almost three times larger than females. Males’ great ranges span across and between ocean basins, allowing global genetic connectivity. As they rove the warm waters where females concentrate, mature males avoid each other; physical aggression on the breeding grounds is rarely observed. Instead, males may rely on powerful acoustic displays to establish dominance over potential competitors and provide females with an honest quality signal. Associations between sexually mature males and groups of females tend to be transitory. Disproportionate mating success of some males is suggested by evidence of paternal relatedness within female social units. Sperm whale mothers provide a substantial investment of time and energy to calves, resulting in the slowest reproductive rate among cetaceans. The peculiar characteristics of sperm whale mating systems reflect the evolutionary interplay between habitat structure, predation risk, sociality, and reproduction. A convergence of reproductive biology between sperm whales and African elephants likely results from similarities in these ecological pressures. Despite sperm whales being one of the most studied cetaceans, much remains unknown about their reproductive strategies. Most of what we know comes from whaling data and long-term observational and modeling studies. The rapid advances in technology for behavioral and physiological studies at sea can refine our understanding of these elusive deep-diving animals’ social, mating, and caring systems and the extent to which these vary across oceans.
Publisher
Springer International Publishing
Reference124 articles.
1. Alexander A, Steel D, Hoekzema K, Mesnick SL, Engelhaupt D, Kerr I, Payne R, Baker CS (2016) What influences the worldwide genetic structure of sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus)? Mol Ecol 25(12):2754–2772. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.13638
2. Andreas J, Beguš G, Bronstein MM, Diamant R, Delaney D, Gero S, Goldwasser S, Gruber DF, de Haas S, Malkin P, Pavlov N, Payne R, Petri G, Rus D, Sharma P, Tchernov D, Tønnesen P, Torralba A, Vogt D, Wood RJ (2022) Toward understanding the communication in sperm whales. iScience 25(6):104393. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2022.104393
3. Backus R, Schevill WE (1966) Physeter clicks. In: Norris KS (ed) Whales, porpoises and dolphins. University of California, Berkeley, CA, pp 510–528
4. Beale T (1835) Chapter VI. Herding and other particulars, of the sperm whale. In: A few observations on the natural history of the sperm whale, Van Voorst, London, pp 51–54
5. Bender CE, Herzing DL, Bjorklund DF (2009) Evidence of teaching in Atlantic spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis) by mother dolphins foraging in the presence of their calves. Anim Cogn 12(1):43–53. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-008-0169-9