recognition. The program offers several sound feedbackfunctions to prevent mistakes, including the option to letthe software speak out the name of each behaviour viathe earphone. However, even with these features wefound it very difficult to score using our ethogram. Wehave a complex configuration file, with several subjectsand more than 60 behaviours, and many of thosebehaviours have one or two modifiers. The behavioursthat we score are a mixture of events and states, includ-ing large movements as well as very fine movements.Since Pocket Observer software is designed specificallyto collect live data, we found it nearly impossible toscroll through our list of behaviours and score accuratelyand precisely with our existing configuration file. Wesuggest that pen-based data entry is ideal only forethograms with few subjects, behaviours and modifiers,because the more behaviours you need to score, themore difficult it is to scroll through the list to find thebehaviour that you need. It is difficult to score complexbehavioural interactions with this system, because thetime needed to score the behaviour and two modifiersmay result in missed behaviours that occurred whileentering earlier data. We suggest with a complex etho-gram that using a PDA with a physical keyboard wouldhelp solve this issue. Perhaps with more practice, wecould become faster at collecting the data, but becausewe videotape our data, The Observer 5.0 on the PCallows us to score, and to pause or slow down our inter-actions. The PDA and Pocket Observer could be used toperform initial general coding of the behaviour in the fieldwith the ability to fill in the details later from the video.After both the video recording and the observational datahave been transferred to the PC, the synchronizationfunction in The Observer Video-Pro can match thetimelines of video and event log. The speed of the videocan then be adjusted so that behaviours can be insertedduring moments of complexity. Another alternative forlive data collection using complex ethograms with manycodes, is a Tablet PC. This device combines portabilitywith a large screen display, and can be used to run TheObserver Basic with the display specified to show allcodes.Once data have been collected and scored through

Pocket Observer, it is necessary to upload these files intoa desktop PC with The Observer Basic, or any otherversion that has been acquired. Files are easily transferredby clicking and dragging files into the appropriate folderon the desktop computer. Only then can reports andanalyses be generated, because these functions are notavailable on the hand-held system.If you are already familiar with The Observer, then

learning to use this portable version is simple. However, ifthis program is new to you, expect a steep learning curve.You must have basic knowledge of the program and ofhow to build a workspace, and, most importantly,a simplified configuration file before being able to usethis system. With these considerations in mind, and bychoosing the appropriate hand-held device, the PocketObserver software would be a useful tool for fieldbiologists taking scan data, scientists who do not wanttheir human subjects to know they are being observed, as

well as many other situations that allow for simplifiedethograms.

GILLIAN ECKHARDTJANE WATERMAN

Biology Department,University of Central Florida,Orlando, FL 32816, U.S.A.

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2004.01.001available online at http://www.ScienceDirect.com

ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR, 67, 4806

SpermWhales: Social Evolution in theOcean.ByH.WHITEHEAD.Chicago: University of Chicago Press (2003). Pp. xxiii+431.Price $30.00 paperback.

An entire book dedicated to a single species is anextravagance that is warranted if the animal is particularlyinteresting or impressive and is sufficiently well studiedfor there to be much to say about it. The sperm whalepasses muster on both counts. As Whitehead points out inthe first chapter, the sperm whale is the most extreme andspectacular of animals: the largest of the toothed whales,the most sexually dimorphic, with the lowest reproductiverate, it is among the most accomplished of mammaliandivers exploiting a deep sea ecosystem of which we arestill woefully ignorant. Sperm whales are also the mostsocially complex of the great whales and possessors of thelargest brain there has ever been. The list of superlativesgoes on but the point is made. Further, although someareas of this whale’s biology remain intriguingly un-known, recent work, in particular that conducted by theauthor and his team, has provided sufficient new in-formation on many aspects of the biology of this speciesto warrant a book at this time and to allow Whitehead topaint a rich picture of its life.

In addition to being biologically spectacular, the spermwhale has had long and varied interactions with humans,not only as a source of unique commodities (spermacetiwas an essential lubricant in the space program, forexample), but also as a cultural and spiritual symbol.Whitehead explores some of these issues in chapter 1 andreturns to the subject of how human activities mightimpact this species at the end of the book, in chapter 9.

Intervening chapters focus on the animal’s biology.With a lucid style, Whitehead takes us through theiroceanic habit, movements, population parameters, be-haviour and vocalizations, and social and cultural organi-zation. Each chapter provides a good overview of existingknowledge, usually including full coverage of the author’sgroup’s own work. To those new to the field, this mightseem a partial treatment, but in reality, it fairly reflects thegroup’s dominance in this field. These chapters areparticularly useful in that they coherently pull togethermuch unpublished, or obscurely published, work. Gooduse is made of text boxes to diverge and explore aninteresting avenue more fully, or to provide methodolog-ical detail on some previously unpublished data.

The sperm whale is a species that seems to haveachieved great ecological success. Notwithstanding the

BOOK AND SOFTWARE REVIEWS 807

depredations of whaling, which focused on sperm whalesin the 1960s and 1970s, this species is still reckoned toconsume more than the catches of the world’s fishingfleet. Sperm whales seem to have achieved this success byexploiting a rather special niche, that of the extreme air-breathing diver, and of becoming the ultimate k-selec-tionist. The species’ well-developed social organizationseems to be a key to this way of life and is fully explored inchapter 6. Advantages that may have led to the evolutionof social organization in sperm whales probably includeprotection and care of calves, which are a precious invest-ment in such a slow-breeding animal, allowing animals tocoordinate their foraging and potentially spreading in-formation on oceanographic and feeding conditions bothspatially and temporally. If social groups exist for greaterthan the life span of individuals, theymay be amechanismfor passing information on how to respond to large-scaleoceanographic changes between generations.This leads to what many may find a controversial part of

the book, the suggestion that sperm whales show culturalevolution. The strongest evidence for this comes fromresearch on similarities and differences between therepertoires of stereotyped communication vocalizations,called codas, between social groups and geographicalareas. Although codas themselves may have little adaptivesignificance, the implications are that other informationimportant for sperm whales’ survival could be transmittedbetween individuals in the same way. For many it seemsthat ‘culture’ is a word reserved for an elite group of higherprimates, and when Whitehead and his then student,Luke Rendell, first made the suggestion, it was heavilycriticized. Many of these criticisms can now be addressed,and although it will always be difficult to marshalunequivocal evidence for a species that is so difficult tostudy, I feel that the case is made quite strongly.In chapter 8, Whitehead is at his most speculative,

suggesting adaptive functions for many of sperm whale’sunusual features and exploring intriguing similaritiesbetween different groups; that is, that evolutionary successin both sperm whales and elephants relied on the de-velopment of their extraordinary noses, and that many ofthe physical attributes of the open ocean favour the

evolution of social organization and culture. Some mightfind this chapter too imaginative for a scientific book, butWhitehead is quite clear in identifying where his spec-ulations are bolstered by evidence and where they are not,and to this reviewer at least, such creative licence andinspiration have an important place in a book like this.This is more than just a book for the whale enthusiasts.

Spermwhales are sufficiently interesting in their own right,and provide so many good, general behavioural andecological examples as to be of interest to all biologists.Indeed, most of the book would be very accessible to thegeneral reader. Extensive use is made of examples fromother species, such as the ‘colossal divergence’ withelephants, which have remarkably similar life historiesand have beenmore fully studied. Spermwhales, which areessentially confined to oceanic waters and make long deepdives that take themaway from the surface for up to anhourat a time, are certainly amongst the most challenging ofspecies to study. The straightforward research approachthat Whitehead and colleagues have used in so much oftheir fieldwork is explained in an appendix, and this, andhis inventive but rigorous use of statistics to make themaximum use of what are often incomplete data, shouldprovide useful examples, as well as inspiration andencouragement for any biologist challenged to study otherexamples of natures less tractable subjects. One disappoint-ment is that the publisher was not able to reproduce theinteresting and informative photographs that illustrate thetext in colour or high-quality black and white.A final noteworthy, if frivolous, attribute of this book is

that it is one the few learned publications to featurea photograph of an individual named in honour of theauthor on its cover. The front of the head of the large malesperm whale seen there, photographed in the Caribbeanattended by members of a mixed group, was so heavilyscarreddhad such a white headdthat the research teamstudying the group named him ‘Hal’.

JONATHAN GORDONSea Mammal Research Unit,Gatty Laboratory, University of Saint Andrews,Saint Andrews, Fife KY16 8LB, U.K.