Humans are particularly interesting; our culture is incredible, there's no doubt about that. In many respects, no other species matches ours. But in quite a few respects, they do, and that can help us, perhaps, to better understand our own… — Hal Whitehead Copy Share Image
Studying the behavior of large whales has been likened to astronomy. The observer glimpses his subjects, often at long range; he cannot do experiments,… — Hal Whitehead Copy Share Image
But one thing that seems pretty clear when we look at human religion is that it's highly tied in with human culture. So if,… — Hal Whitehead Copy Share Image
We believe we're seeing, in other animals, a process, or an attribute, that isn't fundamentally different from what we see in humans, so it… — Hal Whitehead Copy Share Image
Whales are cultural animals, and we're cultural animals, so although we shouldn't expect whales to do what we do, it doesn't seem unreasonable to… — Hal Whitehead Copy Share Image
What I mean by it, and roughly what most biologists who talk about culture mean by it, is either behavior itself, or information that leads to behavior. Information that is picked up through social learning - so, from being with, watching, being taught by others. It's a way that individuals behave or get information about how they will behave that… — Hal Whitehead Copy Share
Culture is not usually one of the criterion for personhood, but it has been argued that culture is sort of a medium for a… — Hal Whitehead Copy Share Image
Conversation with animals could happen, but I think it would be easier for it to happen with creatures we share a bit more with - those that have been bred to interact with us, like dogs or horses, or ones to whom we have a natural evolutionary link, like chimps and other nonhuman apes. I mean, we do communicate with… — Hal Whitehead Copy Share
Religion's pretty pervasive in humans. And why it's pervasive in humans is debated a lot. There are indications of things that look like religion… — Hal Whitehead Copy Share Image
Humans are particularly interesting; our culture is incredible, there's no doubt about that. In many respects, no other species matches ours. But in quite… — Hal Whitehead Copy Share Image
The real controversy comes with anthropologists - not all, but some - who see themselves as studying culture, and they then see culture from… — Hal Whitehead Copy Share Image
I was very lucky. I was just finishing my PhD at Cambridge in 1981. This opportunity came up because whaling was drawing to an… — Hal Whitehead Copy Share Image
I don't like to be dismissive of whales speaking possibilities. There is a pretty New Age-y, poorly thought set of ideas about this going… — Hal Whitehead Copy Share Image
