Shane Gero – Speaking to Sperm Whales, the Power of Storytelling and Why All Science is Political

Skaana with Mark Leiren-Young | Oceans, Eco-Ethics & The Environment

Sperm whale expert Shane Gero on his whale family in Dominica, the power of storytelling and the culture, codas and language of sperm whales. Also… why all science is political. “Science is inherently political… until the sperm whales are able to speak for themselves, someone has to be their advocate… conservation is inherently a human behavioural change.”

Made in Canada, eh 🍁

Shownotes:

2:40 On his whale family and two decades of working with sperm whales.

4:30 On falling for whales.

6:30 What we know… Like… “They have the biggest brain to ever exist.” And studying sperm whales as individuals.

9:48 The power of storytelling. “No matter how much science we could do, no matter how innovative the research we were doing, the story-telling around what’s going on with the lives of these families was so powerful.”

11:54 Watching the birth of a sperm whale. “It was a very humbling day.”

14:43 “I think we do a great disservice when we centre humans.”

18:20 Redefining the meaning of “culture” and “language” to avoid including non-human animals.

20:33 Codas, clicks and communication.

26:47 What makes sperm whale brains unique and the theory of mind.

29:19 The sperm whale, Canopener, figuring out how Shane’s research works.

31:04 The story of spermaceti.

33:15 “Sperm whales powered human culture, long before we realized that sperm whales had culture themselves.”

34:00 The first time he saw a whale.

35:34 And the first time he saw a sperm whale. “Every human should have to go out and experience a 360-degree horizon… it’s very humbling.”

39:20 On the whales’ awareness of us. “We want to study what sperm whales do when sperm whales are being sperm whales… this is their realm.”

41:42 “These animals are living their lives in rich, complex lives that we don’t even understand yet.”

42:07 Why all science is political and fighting science denialism. “Being a scientist means taking sides.”

44:42 “Science is inherently political… until the sperm whales are able to speak for themselves, someone has to be their advocate… conservation is inherently a human behavioural change.”

48:08 On getting biodiversity to recognize cultural diversity.

51:32 On the importance of names. “When we give them a name we don’t do that lightly… we treat them as individual because they are.” And some names that they never imagined would stick… like Fruit Salad.

58:35 What whaling was like. “We killed something like three-quarters of the sperm whales that were out there.”

100:31 “We think the biblical Leviathan was probably describing a sperm whale.”

1:02:55 On what he has learned from sperm whales. “They, as individuals and families, have fundamentally changed the path of my life… Trying to understand what it meant to be a whale has helped me be a better person… They remind us about what is fundamentally important.”

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Shane Gero

Support Our Guest

• • official website: https://www.shanegero.com/
  • the Dominica Sperm Whale Project https://www.thespermwhaleproject.org/
  • Ted Talk – The Lost Culture of Whales https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OQkdRdfyjI
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Books and classes for sale from Team Skaana

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• Octopus Ocean by Mark Leiren-Young
• Sharks Forever by Mark Leiren-Young
• Audiobooks by Mark Leiren-Young (Killer Whale Who Changed the World, Orcas Everywhere & Never Shoot a Stampede Queen) on Audible.com
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• Orcas Everywhere; Orcas of the Salish Sea & Big Whales, Small World
• Paint the Ocean You Wish to See with Rayne Ellycrys Benu
• The Force of Doubt by Rayne Ellycrys Benu