In a rare glimpse of a sperm whale birth, researchers have discovered a remarkable instance of cooperation. Females from two different sperm whale groups came together to take turns holding the calf above water after birth, helping it to breathe. A team of researchers working as part of Project CETI – which uses artificial intelligence to study sperm whale communication – witnessed the extraordinary moment and report their findings in Science on 26 March.
Scientists from Project CETI used artificial intelligence to analyse video footage of the sperm whale birth. This allowed the researchers to determine which sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) was present near the mother and calf at any given moment. Using this information, the researchers shed light on a unique example of cooperation within the complex social lives of cetaceans.
This cooperation begins as the two unrelated sperm whale groups come together and swim in close formation around the labouring mother for protection. Once the calf is born, the sperm whales take turns staying close to keep it above water. Hours after the birth, the two groups separate and resume their normal, more distant foraging behaviour. These remarkable observations bring the researchers a step closer to understanding the still poorly understood evolution of this kind of cooperative behaviour around birth.