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By Michele Charlton

Grad student Taylor Hersh’s innovative research is helping us learn more about the behaviour, movement and culture of sperm whales — and the unique dialects they use to develop a sense of community.

She can trace her fascination with marine animals back to three things she encountered in sixth grade: a person, a book, and a photo.

The person was a classmate who wanted to be a marine biologist. Hersh grew up in landlocked Pennsylvania and had never thought of marine biology as a possible career option. The conviction of her fellow student was really inspiring to Taylor.

The book was Stranded by Ben Mikaelsen. It tells the story of a 12-year-old who helps rescue, rehabilitate and release two stranded pilot whales. Although the book was fictional, Hersh was captivated by the idea of someone her age helping whales.

The photo was National Geographic photographer Brian Skerry’s full body shot of a Southern right whale. It was the first underwater picture of a whale she had ever seen and was completely mesmerizing.

“One of the biggest highlights of my PhD so far has been spending time with the whale families off Dominica. As someone who is holed up in an office with headphones on for most of the year, I cherish time spent in the field because it enriches my research and makes it more rewarding."

“Science had always been one of my favourite subjects,” says Hersh. “But those three encounters launched me down the path to marine mammal research.”

Cracking the code

After a number of marine biology-related internships during and after her undergraduate degree in various places, including Maine, Washington, Mississippi, and Florida, Hersh was able to gain more experience and hone her interests.

“After helping with acoustic research on Southern right whales in Argentina, I realized that I loved listening to whales and trying to decode what they were saying,” says Hersh. “That led me to marine mammal acoustics.”

And when the time came for Hersh to start looking into graduate programs, �°������ϲʿ��� quickly shot to the top of her list.

“I wanted to study marine mammal acoustics, but I also wanted to conduct research that related acoustics back to behaviour,” says Hersh. “When I learned that my now-supervisor, , studied marine mammal culture, including acoustic culture, at �°������ϲʿ���, his lab seemed like the perfect fit.”

For the past three years, Hersh has gone to Dominica each winter to work with the (DSWP). The DSWP was started in 2005 by Dr. Shane Gero when he was also a master’s student in Dr. Whitehead’s lab. Now, 15 years into the project, the sperm whales that live off Dominica are one of the best-studied marine mammal populations in the world.

Learning more about whale dialects

Just like humans, different groups of sperm whales have different cultural dialects. These dialects are made up of Morse code-like patterns of clicks, called codas. Human dialects vary with both space and time, and studying these variations can tell us about the behaviour, movement, and culture of their speakers. The goal of Hersh’s research is to do the same for sperm whales.

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