Consensus movements by groups of sperm whales. Issue 4 (24th August 2016)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- Consensus movements by groups of sperm whales. Issue 4 (24th August 2016)
- Main Title:
- Consensus movements by groups of sperm whales
- Authors:
- Whitehead, Hal
- Abstract:
- Abstract: When animals live in cohesive groups they need to make consensus decisions about movements. As a very large‐scale example of communal movement, nomadic female sperm whales ( Physeter macrocephalus ) travel about 50 km per day as coherent groups of 10–50 animals spread over several km of ocean. From 543 h of data during which 3, 873 headings of small clusters of whales or individual whales were recorded, I quantified the heading behavior of groups foraging off the Galápagos Islands. The groups made both sudden and gradual turns. Using piecewise regression models, I estimate that sudden and gradual turns in heading both occurred at rates of 0.10/h. The mean change in heading was 69° for sudden turns and 84° for gradual turns. The mean duration of gradual turns was 1.3 h, so turns were often slow. Using the recorded headings within 30 min of each of 1, 798 focal headings, a regression of heading on time gave a mean rate of turn of the group and error of each focal heading about the mean heading. Absolute heading errors increased with absolute turn rate ( r S = 0.241; P = 0.0000), so turns were often messy. Thus sperm whales often make slow and messy—likely democratic—consensus decisions when groups change heading.
- Is Part Of:
- Marine mammal science. Volume 32:Issue 4(2016)
- Journal:
- Marine mammal science
- Issue:
- Volume 32:Issue 4(2016)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 32, Issue 4 (2016)
- Year:
- 2016
- Volume:
- 32
- Issue:
- 4
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2016-0032-0004-0000
- Page Start:
- 1402
- Page End:
- 1415
- Publication Date:
- 2016-08-24
- Subjects:
- consensus decisions -- democratic decisions -- heading changes -- movement -- Physeter -- sperm whale -- turns
Marine mammals -- Congresses
Marine mammals -- Periodicals
Marine mammals, Fossil -- Periodicals
Mammifères marins -- Périodiques
599.5 - Journal URLs:
- http://apt.allenpress.com/aptonline/?request=get-archive&issn=0824-0469 ↗
http://ejournals.ebsco.com/direct.asp?JournalID=114222 ↗
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1748-7692 ↗
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/loi/mms ↗
http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0824-0469&site=1 ↗
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/ ↗ - DOI:
- 10.1111/mms.12338 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 0824-0469
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library DSC - 5376.170000
British Library DSC - BLDSS-3PM
British Library HMNTS - ELD Digital store - Ingest File:
- 2136.xml