Learning from other species reveals that we are all one
Safina’s chapters on whales are grouped under the heading “Families.” We learn about the close-knit life of the whales and how unique each family is.
“There is no folly of the beasts of the earth which is not infinitely outdone by the madness of men.”
– Herman Melville, Moby Dick
Carl Safina’s book Becoming Wild: How Animal Cultures Raise Families, Create Beauty and Achieve Peace is an intimate tapestry of the lives of three animal species. What makes these animals who they are? Safina visits sperm whales, macaws and chimpanzees, and with the help of scientists and naturalists he examines their families in the context of culture. For example, sperm whales have complex communications that enable extended families to stay together. A certain group or “clan” of these whales will only communicate with members of that clan. Water is an incredible conduit for sound, and as whales move across the oceans they can listen and respond to other members many kilometres away. This also enables them to come to the defence of their young extremely quickly.
But how they come to the defence of their young is determined by learning that is specific to that group of whales. “Genes determine what can be learned, what we might do,” Safina explains. “Culture determines what is learned, how we do things… Social learning is special. Social learning gives you information stored in the brains of other individuals. You’re born with genes from just two parents; you can learn what whole generations have figured out.” Culture presupposes that there is innovation in a group. Safina gives us many examples of how just one animal can impart to others a new way of interaction in the world. So there is both the process of learning and conformity. He goes on to define culture as “information and behavior that flows socially and can be learned, retained, and shared… Innovation is to culture what mutation is to genes; it’s the only way to make any progress, the root of all change.”
Becoming Wild is all about the amazing cultures found in Nature – not just human culture. Tragically, until recently humans thought they were the only beings on the planet that had culture. That anthropocentric belief was challenged in 1970 by Roger Payne’s recording of the song of the whales, and when Payne and Scott Mcvay published “Songs of Humpback Whales” in Science journal the following year, humans’ attitude to cetaceans changed – well, except that the industrial killing of the great whales continued. People began to question strongly the need to destroy these sentient creatures. Did margarine have to contain whale oil? Was whale oil really needed for face cream or for lubricating machinery?
It has always struck me that one of the great perversities perpetrated by fossil fuel corporations and their lobbyists is their active and unremitting ability to help kill off whales, something that men in boats projecting harpoons could never quite manage. You’d be correct in assuming that things should have improved once whales were no longer murdered for their oil to light up houses, because fossil fuels took over that task. However, as the oceans lost large numbers of whales, the boats had to go further and further in search of their prey. The cost in fossil fuels to travel to the Antarctic to hunt made whaling almost prohibitive, but that cost was filling the coffers of the petroleum industry. That is not to say that the petroleum industry pushed the hunters to destroy the whales, but it is part of a web of deceit and greed that has brought us to our ecological crisis. Safina puts it succinctly: “Energy is always a moral matter. It has tended to reward immoral behaviour.”
What kept the butchery going was the “respectable” quasi-scientific but highly political International Whaling Commission established in 1946. Unbelievably, it was set up to stop the all-out extermination of whales so that commercial whaling could continue! Quotas were arbitrarily established and then countries lied about their catches. A moratorium in 1979 came and went. Only public outrage saved the whales… or did it?
Safina’s chapters on whales are grouped under the heading “Families.” We learn about the close-knit life of the whales and how unique each family is. All the members of a clan use specific clicking sounds known as codas, which identify them and enable them to pass on information. New skills for hunting fish are shared within the clan. Whale cultures teach the young not only how to survive, but also their way of life. When the adults are killed in grotesque numbers, the adolescents have not yet been given the opportunity to learn these life skills. Genes are not enough for survival. Fragmentation of families destroys the ability to be innovative. If culture is home, as Safina puts it, whales lose their homes when families are torn apart. He reluctantly says, “It means something acutely awful, I think: that the human species has made itself incompatible with the rest of life on Earth.” To say this is to send a jolt of horror through the reader. Whales have responded to the question of how we can best live where we are. Will humans do the same?
To this day the Japanese still demand the slaughter of whales for “research.” Arguing that whales are killing too many fish brings to mind the spurious rant that wolves must be decimated to save the livestock industry. To bring it closer to our human “home,” when Indigenous groups lose their languages and land, all is lost.
Scientists now know that sperm whales help keep the oceans healthy and enriching for many species, and that they are a key species for slowing down the climate crisis. When these whales dive, guided by sonar, into the great depths, they capture massive volumes of squid. In doing so they bring to the surface many nutrients, but just as importantly they usually defecate before they dive, and their excreta become an important source of nutrients for wildlife and for the propagation of plankton that soak up carbon dioxide.
Recently a lot of effort has been made to celebrate the lives of animals. David Attenborough’s documentaries and others such as My Octopus Teacher are all trying to undo the self-imposed calamity humans find themselves in. Becoming Wild does the same. It is available at the Lennoxville library.
A second article exploring Carl Safina’s book will look at the cultures of macaws and chimpanzees and how beauty and peace are integral to their existence.