TY - JOUR
T1 - Extreme Rhythm Keeping in Long‐Range Slow Click Communication of Sperm Whales
AU - Videsen, Simone K. A.
AU - Raimondi, Teresa
AU - Sørensen, Pernille M.
AU - Pedersen, Michael B.
AU - Zimmer, Walter M. X.
AU - van Geel, Nienke C. F.
AU - Risch, Denise
AU - Cook, Peter
AU - King, Stephanie L.
AU - Ravignani, Andrea
AU - Madsen, Peter T.
N1 - © 2026 The Author(s). Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The New York Academy of Sciences.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
PY - 2026/5/1
Y1 - 2026/5/1
N2 - Male sperm whales produce loud, low-frequency clicks at low repetition rates. By combining measurements of source propertieswith sound propagation modeling, we show that sperm whale slow clicks with source levels > 200 dB re 1 µPa (peak−peak) are theloudest communication signal of any mammal, and that such loud, low-frequency clicks in deep ocean waters have an estimatedactive space of up to 70 km. We show that these slow clicks are highly rhythmic at rates of 0.1−0.3 Hz, which is an order ofmagnitude slower than other rhythmic communication signals among mammals and birds. Thus, slow clicks may allow for timinginformation to be maintained over extreme distances, and we, therefore, propose that sperm whale slow click production is a lowentropy, long-range communication signal that may offer honest advertisement through rhythm-keeping to distant receivers. Wespeculate that the production of such loud, rhythmic clicks at extremely slow rates may be achieved by the sperm whales usingextrinsic echo information from the environment to maintain extreme isochrony.
AB - Male sperm whales produce loud, low-frequency clicks at low repetition rates. By combining measurements of source propertieswith sound propagation modeling, we show that sperm whale slow clicks with source levels > 200 dB re 1 µPa (peak−peak) are theloudest communication signal of any mammal, and that such loud, low-frequency clicks in deep ocean waters have an estimatedactive space of up to 70 km. We show that these slow clicks are highly rhythmic at rates of 0.1−0.3 Hz, which is an order ofmagnitude slower than other rhythmic communication signals among mammals and birds. Thus, slow clicks may allow for timinginformation to be maintained over extreme distances, and we, therefore, propose that sperm whale slow click production is a lowentropy, long-range communication signal that may offer honest advertisement through rhythm-keeping to distant receivers. Wespeculate that the production of such loud, rhythmic clicks at extremely slow rates may be achieved by the sperm whales usingextrinsic echo information from the environment to maintain extreme isochrony.
KW - active space
KW - cetacean
KW - clangs
KW - rhythm
KW - slow clicks
KW - toothed whale
U2 - 10.1111/nyas.70289
DO - 10.1111/nyas.70289
M3 - Article
SN - 0077-8923
VL - 1559
JO - Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
JF - Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
IS - 1
ER -