揭秘鲸鱼种群文化：有名字、爱唱歌，还挑食？

Ford, age 66, has now studied killer whales, the largest dolphin and from the branch of the Cetacean order known as toothed whales, for more than 40 years. He’s seen this phenomenon, called beach rubbing, countless times since that first underwater glimpse. He can’t say for certain why the animals do it. He suspects it’s a form of social bonding.

现年66岁的福特已经研究虎鲸40多年了，虎鲸属于齿鲸目，是鲸目中最大的品种。自从第一次下水，他已经看到了无数次这种被称为海滩摩擦的现象。他也搞不清楚动物们为什么这么做，但他怀疑这是一种社会联系的形式。

Beach rubbing is routine among this population, called northern residents because they ply inland seas during summer and fall between the Canadian mainland and Vancouver Island. Not so their neighbors to the south. The orcas around the border with Washington State, where I live, have never been documented performing this ritual.

这群鲸鱼在夏秋两季会在介于加拿大大陆和温哥华岛之间的内海穿梭，因此被称为北部居民。海滩摩擦是它们的一种常见现象。而南部的鲸鱼们则不然。我居住的华盛顿州边界附近的虎鲸在记录中从未出现过这种行为。

Washington’s killer whales, called the southern residents, instead have their own conventions. They hold “greeting ceremonies,” facing off in tight lines before exploding in underwater parties of rubs and calls. That’s exceedingly rare up north. Southern residents are aerialists, performing twisting leaps and belly flops.

华盛顿的虎鲸被称为南方居民，它们有着自己的习俗：举行“迎接仪式”，排成一排，然后在水下摩擦欢呼。在北部，这种情况极为罕见。南部居民是空中飞人，它们擅长表现表演跳跃和俯卧撑。

Yet in every other meaningful way, the northern and southern residents are indistinguishable.How could two groups from essentially the same place be genetically similar and yet speak and act so differently? Is it possible that these complex social beings weren’t driven solely by the inherited twitch of genetic instinct?  Could whales have their own cultures?

然而，在其他方面，北方虎鲸和南方虎鲸是很难区分的。为什么在来自同一地方并且在遗传上相似的两个群体，却在言行上如此不同呢？这些复杂的社会性生物是否可能受到的不仅仅是遗传本能的的驱动？鲸鱼是否可能有自己的文化？

Like a whale maternity ward, beluga cows and their calves flock to the slightly warmer waters at the mouth of the Cunningham River in Canada’s Arctic. Several times, when they were temporarily trapped in river pools by receding tides, scientist Valeria Vergara recorded multiple belugas vocalizing at once. She now suspects they use individual calls, like names, suggesting they broadcast their identities.

加拿大北极坎宁安河口稍暖的水域就如同鲸鱼们的产房，白鲸和它们的幼崽成群结队地涌向那里。有好几次，当它们被退潮暂时困在河池中时，科学家瓦莱丽娅·韦加拉记录到多只白鲸同时发声。她现在怀疑它们每一只都有独特的发声方式，就像姓名一样能用来表明自己的身份。

What I hear next is deep and guttural, like the low rumble of a bass saxophone dipped in water. The burbling wail begins to climb until it reaches a pinched-off, airy screech, like a child blowing a conch. Soon the sounds change entirely, becoming dark and melodic, then ethereal and wispy. A high note ends with a chirp that recalls the tiny squeak that slips from a yawning puppy. A bass croak rolls out like a long, slow burp.

接下来听到的是深沉而刺耳的声音，就像浸入水中的低音萨克斯的低沉隆隆声。呜呜的哭声开始升起，直到它突然变成刺耳的尖叫声，就像一个孩子在吹海螺一样。很快，声音就完全改变了，变得黑暗而有旋律，然后变得空灵而纤细。高音以叽叽喳喳声结束，让人联想起打哈欠的小狗发出的细小吱吱声。低音嘶哑的声音像长而缓慢的打嗝声一样响起。

This is the song of a male humpback whale. A few years ago a tune much like this one swept across the South Pacific, igniting a full-blown cultural revolution.

这是一头雄座头鲸的歌声。几年前，一首类似的曲子横扫南太平洋，点燃了一场全面的文化大革命。

Male humpbacks pick up songs from one another. And male humpbacks are into fresh beats. Like pop culture fanatics, they’re always chasing that next sound, eager to find a trendy new tune. The speed with which they adopt new sonic arrangements “is astounding,”So too is a song’s geographic reach. One song can spread across an ocean basin.

雄性座头鲸会互相学歌。雄性座头鲸进入了新的节奏。就像流行文化的狂热分子一样，他们总是在追逐下一个声音，渴望找到一首新潮的曲子。他们采用新的音色安排的速度“令人震惊”，歌曲的地理范围也是如此。一首歌可以传遍整个海洋盆地。

Songs employ rhyme and rhythm, phrasing and melody. There are themes followed by variations and returns to those original statements. Whales have been around for 50 million years. Before recent decades, there was little possibility that humans and humpbacks had heard each other’s melodies. “Yet whales use many of the same laws of composition in their songs that we use in ours,” Payne wrote in his book Among Whales. A single whale song may last half an hour. A single whale may sing all afternoon. 

歌曲采用韵律和节奏，叙述和旋律。主题之后是变化，并返回到原始的陈述。鲸鱼已经存在了五千万年。在最近几十年前，人类和座头鲸几乎不可能听到对方的旋律。佩恩在他的《鲸鱼之中》一书中写道：“然而，鲸鱼在歌曲中使用了许多与我们在使用中相同的作曲定律。”一首鲸鱼之歌可能会持续半个小时。一条鲸鱼可能会在整个下午唱歌。

Belugas are playful and curious. Off Somerset Island, they may pick up rocks and offer them to each other or flip kelp onto their heads and sashay about as if wearing tiaras or wigs. Are any of these cultural traits? It’s too soon to say. Beluga culture is rooted in lifelong social relationships, but there is much more to learn.

白鲸既顽皮又好奇。在萨默塞特岛附近，他们可能会捡起石头，互相赠送，或者把海带翻到头上，像戴着皇冠或假发一样四处游荡。这些文化特征有哪些？现在说还为时过早。白鲸文化植根于终生的社会关系，但还有很多东西需要学习。

Ford shares a story: killer whales travel in matrilineal family pods for life and learn how and what to eat by watching their kin. In 1970, when wild orcas in the region were still being caught for marine parks, wranglers drove five killer whales into a British Columbia cove. Two were taken to a marine park. The remaining three refused to eat the salmon offered by caretakers. One eventually died. Only after 79 days did the survivors start eating fish.

福特分享了一个故事：虎鲸在母系家庭的庇护中度过一生，它们通过观察家族成员来学习如何进食以及吃些什么。1970年，当该地区的野生虎鲸被捕到海岸公园时，牧人将五头虎鲸驱赶到不列颠哥伦比亚省的一个小海湾，两头虎鲸被带到了海岸公园，其余三头虎鲸拒绝食用看护者提供的鲑鱼。有一头虎鲸最终死了，幸存的那头在79天后才开始吃鱼。

The whales were “caught in this behavioral rut,” Ford tells me. The caretakers didn’t know killer whales in the Northwest represent three different diets: southern- and northern-resident salmon-eaters; offshore shark-eaters; and Bigg’s killer whales, which hunt only marine mammals. Unlike some other cetaceans whose culture offers them flexibility, these killer whales are unwilling or unable to switch food even when options dwindle. “It‘s just an example of how ingrained these cultures are,” Ford says.

福特告诉我，鲸鱼“陷入了这种行为模式”。看管者不知道西北部的虎鲸代表着三种不同的饮食：南部和北部的居民吃鲑鱼；近海食鲨者；还有比格的虎鲸，它们只捕食海洋哺乳动物。其他鲸类动物的文化为它们提供了灵活性，而虎鲸则不同，它们即使在猎物选择减少的情况下也不愿或不能转换食物。“这只是这些文化根深蒂固的一个例子，”福特说。

A killer whale off New Zealand hunts rays. Orcas can become so culturally attached to their food that they won’t switch prey. In 1970 a few mammal-eating killer whales were captured for the marine park trade off the coast of British Columbia and refused to eat for more than 70 days rather than consume salmon, the prey of neighboring killer whales.

新西兰附近的一头虎鲸正在捕食鳐鱼。不同品种的虎鲸有不同的食性（这是虎鲸的一种文化），并且自古以来从未改变。1970年，一些以哺乳动物为食的虎鲸在不列颠哥伦比亚海岸的海洋公园交易中被捕，70多天来它们拒绝进食，而不是食用哥伦比亚附近的虎鲸的食物鲑鱼。

That’s partly why, in 2019, more than two dozen scientists, including Ford, Garland, Whiten, and Whitehead, called for a sea change in global conservation. In the journal Science they urged the world to incorporate culture into wildlife management decisions. The Convention on Migratory Species already is developing a plan for South American countries to protect sperm whales in the eastern Pacific by focusing on what individual clans require. Such approaches are “essential to maintaining the natural diversity and integrity of Earth’s rich ecosystems,” the authors argue.

这就是在2019年，包括福特、加兰、怀特恩和怀特黑德在内的二十多位科学家呼吁在全球保护方面进行变革的原因之一。他们在《科学》杂志上敦促全世界将文化纳入野生动植物管理决策。《迁徙物种公约》(Convention on migration Species)已经在为南美国家制定一项计划，通过关注不同种类鲸鱼的需求来保护东太平洋的抹香鲸。作者认为，这些方法“对于保持地球丰富生态系统的生物多样性和完整性至关重要”。 

Today many scientists believe some whales and dolphins, like humans, have distinct cultures. The possibility is prompting new thinking about how some marine species evolve. Cultural traditions may help drive genetic shifts, altering what it means to be a whale. But this idea is also reshaping our view of what separates us from these aquatic beasts. Whale culture, it seems, is rattling timeworn conceptions of ourselves.

今天，许多科学家认为，某些鲸鱼和海豚，和人类一样，拥有独特的文化。这种猜测促使人们对一些海洋物种如何进化产生新的思考。文化传统可能有助于基因上的改变，并重定义鲸鱼这个词。这个想法也让我们再次陷入思考：究竟是什么区分了人类与这些水生动物？鲸鱼文化似乎是在提醒我们，是时候改变自己的陈旧观念啦。

编译 | 马嘉琪 刘睿琪 陈语姝 王奕涵

排版 | 王奕涵