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

About this episode

Shane Gero discusses his research on sperm whales, the importance of storytelling in science, and the political nature of conservation efforts.

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…

People in this episode

Host: Mark Leiren-Young

Guest: Shane Gero

Topics covered

• sperm whales
• storytelling
• science
• politics
• conservation
• communication
• culture
• language

Keywords

• whale family
• Dominica
• codas
• clicks
• theory of mind
• spermaceti

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Fruit Salad

Books & works: Sperm Whales,, The Orca Bites Podcast, Octopus Ocean, Sharks Forever, Killer Whale Who Changed the World, The Killer Whale Who Changed the World, 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

Places: Dominica, Canada, Leviathan

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