The Social Structure of Whales

Whales are rarely spotted swimming alone because they are very social animals. They swim in a grouping of whales called a pod. This pod usually contains their family, but there is always exceptions. Particularly, the sperm whale and killer whale have unique and strong social structures.

Female sperm whales travel in social units for almost their whole lives. This unit contains around eleven female and baby whales, which are not all related. In this social unit, all the females treat one another as a family; they gather food for one another and even take care of each others babies. Often times while traveling, two units come together and form a group. This group stays together for more than ten days and can contain anywhere from twenty to fifty females and their young. But what is more amazing, is that all twenty female sperm whales in this group are females. Males only stay in these units for four to five years, then they go out on their own, leaving the females with their inspiring cooperative ways.

Alan Berner

However, in contrast to the close units of the female sperm whales, there is the multicultural orca. Orcas do live in pods, yet these pods consist of several females and at least one male. Also, the young stay with their mother when they grow up and families travel with each other for years. But, killer whales do eventually break off from these pods and travel on their own or with other killer whales in transit. This social behaviour can happen because of their dialect. Some pods can share up to ten calls. When these calls are shared the the whales are considered to be in a vocal clan with each other, for they share this cultural aspect together. However, the orca whale forms many other societies, as well, with orcas from another community and even different types of whales. With each of the other types of whales, the orca will take part in a different shared form of culture. In regards to the orca community, the cultural variation is a greeting. When whales from the same community meet, they line up facing the other pod and wait before approaching and socializing. When pods from separate communities meet, they "beach rub". This is simply rubbing up against rocks, which is site specific to one of the communities. Finally, when an orca whale is in transit, it comes across different types of whales. The orca will observe these whales and notice that the food they are hunting is the type in which they like themselves, or would like to try. Therefore, adapting and imitating their culture and engaging in the same hunting/foraging techniques as the whale. Which, in the end, leaves the orca with the broadest sense of whale culture.

http://www.springerlink.com/content/j20266w36k7r2v14/fulltext.pdf?page=1

http://www.acsonline.org/factpack/KillerWhale.htm

http://whitelab.biology.dal.ca/lr/culture.pdf