An edition of Sperm Whales (2003)

Sperm Whales

Social Evolution in the Ocean

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Last edited by MARC Bot
September 7, 2024 | History
An edition of Sperm Whales (2003)

Sperm Whales

Social Evolution in the Ocean

  • 1 Want to read

Famed in story as "the great leviathans," sperm whales are truly creatures of extremes. Giants among all whales, they also have the largest brains of any creature on Earth. Males can reach a length of sixty-two feet and can weigh upwards of fifty tons. With this book, Hal Whitehead gives us a clearer picture of the ecology and social life of sperm whales than we have ever had before. Based on almost two decades of field research, Whitehead describes their biology, behavior, and habitat; how they organize their societies and how their complex lifestyles may have evolved in this unique environment. Among the many fascinating topics he explores is the crucial role that culture plays in the life of the sperm whale, and he traces the consequences of this argument for both evolution and conservation. Finally, drawing on these findings, Whitehead builds a general model of how the ocean environment influences social behavior and cultural evolution among mammals as well as other animals. The definitive portrait of a provocative creature, Sperm Whales will interest animal behaviorists, conservationists, ecologists, and evolutionary biologists as well as marine mammalogists.

Publish Date
Language
English
Pages
464

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Book Details


First Sentence

"Nicholas Humphrey's essay "The social function of intellect," from which this quote is taken, sparked the "Machiavellian intelligence" hypothesis, which proposes that sophisticated animal intelligence evolved as selection favored those animals that effectively exploited social complexity (Byrne and Whiten 1988)."

Classifications

Library of Congress
QL737.C435 W465 2003, QL737.C435W465 2003

The Physical Object

Format
Paperback
Number of pages
464
Dimensions
9 x 6 x 1.2 inches
Weight
1.6 pounds

Edition Identifiers

Open Library
OL9430590M
ISBN 10
0226895181
ISBN 13
9780226895185
LCCN
2002155088
OCLC/WorldCat
51242162
LibraryThing
1818869
Goodreads
1205316

Work Identifiers

Work ID
OL4784185W

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History

Download catalog record: RDF / JSON / OPDS | Wikipedia citation
September 7, 2024 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
January 7, 2023 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
September 15, 2021 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
December 5, 2020 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
April 30, 2008 Created by an anonymous user Imported from amazon.com record