| Title |
Multilevel animal societies can emerge from cultural transmission
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Nature Communications, September 2015
|
| DOI | 10.1038/ncomms9091 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Maurício Cantor, Lauren G. Shoemaker, Reniel B. Cabral, César O. Flores, Melinda Varga, Hal Whitehead |
| Abstract |
Multilevel societies, containing hierarchically nested social levels, are remarkable social structures whose origins are unclear. The social relationships of sperm whales are organized in a multilevel society with an upper level composed of clans of individuals communicating using similar patterns of clicks (codas). Using agent-based models informed by an 18-year empirical study, we show that clans are unlikely products of stochastic processes (genetic or cultural drift) but likely originate from cultural transmission via biased social learning of codas. Distinct clusters of individuals with similar acoustic repertoires, mirroring the empirical clans, emerge when whales learn preferentially the most common codas (conformism) from behaviourally similar individuals (homophily). Cultural transmission seems key in the partitioning of sperm whales into sympatric clans. These findings suggest that processes similar to those that generate complex human cultures could not only be at play in non-human societies but also create multilevel social structures in the wild. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 172 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 31 | 18% |
| United Kingdom | 22 | 13% |
| Spain | 10 | 6% |
| Germany | 6 | 3% |
| Brazil | 5 | 3% |
| France | 4 | 2% |
| Japan | 4 | 2% |
| Australia | 3 | 2% |
| Netherlands | 3 | 2% |
| Other | 22 | 13% |
| Unknown | 62 | 36% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 95 | 55% |
| Scientists | 69 | 40% |
| Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 7 | 4% |
| Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 1 | <1% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 431 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 7 | 2% |
| United States | 4 | <1% |
| Netherlands | 2 | <1% |
| Brazil | 2 | <1% |
| Mexico | 2 | <1% |
| Senegal | 1 | <1% |
| Germany | 1 | <1% |
| Turkey | 1 | <1% |
| South Africa | 1 | <1% |
| Other | 7 | 2% |
| Unknown | 403 | 94% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 108 | 25% |
| Researcher | 78 | 18% |
| Student > Bachelor | 54 | 13% |
| Student > Master | 53 | 12% |
| Other | 24 | 6% |
| Other | 71 | 16% |
| Unknown | 43 | 10% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 221 | 51% |
| Environmental Science | 39 | 9% |
| Psychology | 22 | 5% |
| Social Sciences | 17 | 4% |
| Physics and Astronomy | 11 | 3% |
| Other | 54 | 13% |
| Unknown | 67 | 16% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 517. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 13 February 2024.
All research outputs
#49,839
of 25,713,737 outputs
Outputs from Nature Communications
#803
of 58,180 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#476
of 280,608 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Nature Communications
#7
of 763 outputs
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