Killer whales, Orcinus orca, form a dynamic and complex social group of that are based upon maternal relationships. Each population of killer whales is comprised of an alpha female and up to four generations of her offspring, both male and female. Each group, or pod, falls within a larger whale population in an area (cultural transmission). Because whales are social creatures, communication is an important aspect for the entire pod. The offspring in the pods learn social cues and vocalizations primarily from their mother and the alpha female in the group (Evolution random). Because vocalizations are taught socially, different pods within a single population have many different dialects. Even though pods within a population have their own unique dialect, however there are subtle similarities among the pods. Using dialects as a source of comparison, it may be possible to determine …show more content…
From the recordings two similar types of calls have been identified: monophonic and biphonic calls. Monophonic calls are simple single vocalizations while biphonic calls are comprised of multilayered vocalizations (population diversity). These types of calls were recorded in the different pods of a single population. Upon further study, the types of calls were most similar among those pods which had closer related alpha females. The pods that were more distantly related had less similarity in their vocalizations. As the matrilines within a pod started moving away from the alpha female their vocalizations began to change (whales 1). A study conducted over a 12-13 year period supported the distant relationship between pods. They quantified the acoustic similarities seen in year to year comparisons for two groups of whales. The study did reveal that as time went on call similarities, of both types, decreased (whale