# Evidence of social learning across symbolic cultural barriers in sperm whales

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.05304 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.05304/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 7 Jul 2023.

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [WhAM: Towards A Translative Model of Sperm Whale Vocalization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.02206/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

We provide quantitative evidence suggesting social learning in sperm whales across socio-cultural boundaries, using acoustic data from the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Traditionally, sperm whale populations are categorized into clans based on their vocal repertoire: the rhythmically patterned click sequences (codas) that they use. Among these codas, identity codas function as symbolic markers for each clan, accounting for 35-60% of codas they produce. We introduce a computational method to model whale speech, which encodes rhythmic micro-variations within codas, capturing their vocal style. We find that vocal style-clans closely align with repertoire-clans. However, contrary to vocal repertoire, we show that sympatry increases vocal style similarity between clans for non-identity codas, i.e. most codas, suggesting social learning across cultural boundaries. More broadly, this subcoda structure model offers a framework for comparing communication systems in other species, with potential implications for deeper understanding of vocal and cultural transmission within animal societies.