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Science 27 November 1998:
Vol. 282. no. 5394, p. 1616
DOI: 10.1126/science.282.5394.1616
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News of the Week

EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY:
DNA Suggests Cultural Traits Affect Whales' Evolution

Gretchen Vogel

On page 1708, a marine biologist suggests that in sperm whales and some other species, cultural traits--learned behaviors passed on to family members--are affecting the course of genetic evolution, a situation thus far documented only in humans. He has found a pattern of genetic markers in sperm whales implying, he says, that some whale matriarchs teach their groups as-yet-unidentified behaviors that give them a substantial survival advantage. Other marine and evolutionary biologists are greeting the proposal with great interest--and some caution, because so little is known about whale behavior and genetics.

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)