Analysis of sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) dialogues, click by click, an ethoacoustic approach
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Off Mauritius, expeditions are conducted to study the 'Irène Gueule Tordue' clan of sperm whales by collecting behavioural, acoustic and genetic data [1,2]. The innovative Opale tool, developed by SMIot and LIS DYNI [3], is equipped with five hydrophones and two GoPro cameras, passively records high-definition interactions among sperm whales, providing unique observations. This ethoacoustic study focuses on dyadic interactions, characterised as 'confrontational play' between immature males, marked by the emission of a series of 'staccato' clicks. These 'confrontational plays' are specific to immature males, underlining the originality of this study, which requires long-term observations and a distinction between the sexes of the individuals involved. Each click is automatically detected and annotated, then assigned to its emitter, even when click trains overlap, using click separation and direction of arrival estimation methods [4,5], while exploring specific click characteristics. These techniques allow precise differentiation of vocalisations for each individual. By analysing these vocal exchanges, the study aims to decode the social role of clicks in the communication and group dynamics of sperm whales, while deepening our understanding of their social structure. This approach provides a detailed view of socio-acoustic behaviours within a matrilineal unit [6], increasing our knowledge of sperm whale society and communication modes, and thus supporting conservation efforts for this vulnerable species.We acknowledge our interdisciplinary team composed of CIAN with LIS UTLN, Institute d'Alembert, Longitude 181 and the Indian Ocean Marine Life Foundation, as well as the Mauritian authorities for their support.[1] Sarano V., Sarano F., Girardet J., Preud’homme A., Vitry H., Heuzey R., Sarano M., Delfour F., Glotin H., Adam O., Madon B. & Jung J-L (2022): Underwater photo-identification of sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) off Mauritius.Marine Biology Research, https://doi.org/10.1080/17451000.2022.2040737[2] Sarano F., Girardet J., Sarano V., Vitry H., Preud'homme A., Heuzey R., Garcia Segarra A M, Richard G., Tixie P., Guinet C., Delfour F., Glotin H., Adam O. & Jung JL (2021) : Kin relationships in cultural species of the marine realm: case study of a social group of sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) off Mauritius Island, Indian Ocean. Royal Society Open Science 8: 201794. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.201794[3] Glotin, H., and al. (2024). OPALE: a super resolution audiovisual mobile antenna for cetacean ethoacoustical researches. DCLDE 2024, Rotterdam. https://cian.lis-lab.fr[4] Ferrari, M. (2020). Study of a biosonar based on the modeling of a complete chain of emission-propagation-reception with validation on Sperm Whales [PhD, University of Picardie Jules Verne]. Sciences Technologie et Santé (ED 585), codir Asch and Glotin[5] Zimmer, W.M.X. (2013). Range estimation of cetaceans with compact volumetric arrays. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 134(3), 2610. doi:10.1121/1.4817892[6] Whitehead, H. (2024). Sperm whale clans and human societies. Royal Society Open Science, 11 (231353). https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.231353
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".