About This Project

This collaborative project pioneers a multimodal approach to decode orca communication by developing research protocols that combine drone video, hydrophone recordings, and AI, applicable across populations. We ask how calls coordinate behaviours and relationships, predicting that specific call patterns correspond to distinct behavioural contexts and are altered under elevated noise conditions. This work will reveal which behaviours are most disrupted by underwater noise.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

Orcas are among the most socially complex mammals on the planet. Call repertoires differ between populations and vocal traditions are passed down through generations, an extraordinary example of animal culture. Despite decades of research, we still don’t know what many sounds mean or how whales use them to coordinate activities like hunting and prey sharing, or to maintain social bonds. While most work has focused on how noise interferes with echolocation, relatively little is known about how it disrupts the communication that underpins cooperation and culture. Our project brings together marine biologists and AI researchers to pair synchronized drone footage, underwater recordings, and advanced analytical tools to reveal how orcas use sound to share information and maintain complex relationships in a noisy ocean. We will test the hypothesis that specific call patterns correspond to distinct social and behavioural contexts and are modified when noise interferes with communication.

What is the significance of this project?

Acoustic communication is the glue that holds killer whale societies together. By revealing how these culturally diverse whales use sound to coordinate, share food, and care for one another, this project will transform our understanding of one of the ocean’s most socially and cognitively sophisticated species. It also has critical conservation implications: noise from ships can mask or disrupt key social calls, undermining cooperation and survival. Linking specific calls to behaviours will help us identify which aspects of killer whale communication are most sensitive to disturbance and design evidence-based strategies that reduce noise impacts and protect the social bonds and cultural traditions that define their societies. In doing so, this work contributes to the growing conversation around more-than-human personhood, showing that species like killer whales possess communication systems that reflect advanced cognition and deep social connection.

What are the goals of the project?

Our goal is to understand how killer whales communicate and how noise pollution affects their communication. We’ll combine drone video, underwater recordings, and field observations to link sounds with behaviours and social interactions. Using AI tools, we’ll analyze these synchronized datasets to detect patterns that reveal how they organize and use their calls. We’ll then apply these models to , examine sequences and potential syntax to generate new hypotheses about what call combinations convey and how they function. Ultimately, we aim to transform how we study and protect killer whales. Our long-term goal is to develop standardized research methods that scientists worldwide can use to study communication in other killer whale populations. The species is highly cultural, and studying them across regions greatly further our understanding of the diversity and commonalities of their vocal systems, and how they adapt to changing environments.