Researchers in the Caribbean Sea thought they were watching a shark attack on a group of sperm whales—until a newborn surfaced in the middle of the commotion. A team with Project CETI (the Cetacean Translation Initiative) has documented what appears to be cooperative "midwifery" among sperm whales, described in two new papers in Science and Scientific Reports. Eleven adults and adolescents formed a tight ring at the surface for about an hour, then began churning the water as blood appeared. Moments later, a small calf emerged, hoisted up by the group so it could take its first breaths. Video, drone footage, photos, and underwater audio captured the entire July 2023 event.
The mother, known as Rounder, was attended closely by her own mother, Lady Oracle, as well as kin and unrelated whales. Researchers found that the whales repositioned themselves toward Rounder during labor and then toward the calf afterward, with several repeatedly lifting it to the surface. Notably, about half the attendants weren't related to the mother, a detail scientists say points to social cooperation beyond simple genetic self-interest.
- "The behaviors that we're seeing—in supporting the mom, in supporting the newborn—reflect a complex cooperative society that can't just be explained by 'Oh, you're related,'" says lead researcher Shane Gero, per NPR . "There's something richer there—in which they live in a society where the expectation is 'I will help you so you will help me.'"
Newborn sperm whales are negatively buoyant and will sink without assistance, says Gero, a marine biologist who has been studying this group of whales since 2005. Sperm whales lives in matrilineal groups of grandmothers, mothers, and daughters, though the group that assisted the newborn including an adolescent male, Allan, who was on the cusp of leaving to begin a largely solitary life, the New York Times reports. The researchers say every member of the group was a "primary supporter" on the newborn at some point over several hours, and it was normally being held up by at least two whales.
- "What is particularly interesting is that the researchers documented how individuals from a normally separate social unit were engaged with the birth," marine biologist Philippa Brakes tells the Times. "This seems to indicate a layering of cultural and innate behaviors that are context-specific, which would be interesting to explore more."
The team also tracked shifts in the whales' click patterns throughout the birth as they continue their broader effort to decode sperm whale communication using artificial intelligence; they've previously proposed a "phonetic alphabet" of whale clicks. The detailed birth record adds to growing evidence that humans aren't alone in receiving help during childbirth: similar support has been reported in some primates, dolphins, and even rodents. "One thing we have learned is that whenever you say that something is unique to humans, we always find that that's not the case," Wenda Trevathan, a biological anthropologist who studies childbirth, tells the Times.
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