Whale clans use vocalizations to mark their culture

For decades, researchers and the public have been captivated by the deep-diving sperm whales, highly social animals who live in groups of mothers and calves. The whales communicate with Morse code-like series of clicks called codas, and whales that use similar coda "dialects" belong to the same cultural group or vocal clan. Sperm whale researchers have long suspected that whales use certain coda types to distinguish vocal clans. But previous studies of sperm whale clans were largely region-specific.