Predicting mesoscale movement of sperm whale units in the Caribbean based on social dynamics.

ABSTRACT: Sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) navigate complex oceanic environments and social structures. In the waters off Dominica, female and juvenile whales form long-lasting social units and vocal clans, distinguished by unique click dialects known as codas. While prey availability is often seen as a driver of whale movements, we highlight the role of sociality in shaping spatial behavior. Using 20 years of photo-identification data, we examined the sequential presence of social units for predictable patterns linked to social structure. Applying long short-term memory (LSTM) neural networks to sequences of one to five days across 16 states including 14 units, mature males and unknown units, we achieved prediction accuracies over 60%, far exceeding random chance (0.00001526). We then compared

SUBMITTER: Mevorach Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12594971 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature