Dr Luke Rendell

Dr Luke Rendell

Reader

Researcher profile

Phone
+44 (0)1334 46 3499
Email
ler4@st-andrews.ac.uk

 

Research areas

"The true biologist deals with life, with teeming boisterous life, and learns something from it, learns that the first rule of life is living"
John Steinbeck, The Log from the Sea of Cortez

 Follow me on Twitter: @_lrendell

ResearcherID: G-2594-2010

orcid.org/0000-0002-1121-9142 


I am a Reader in Biology affiliated with the Scottish Ocean Institute, Sea Mammal Research Unit, the Centre for Biological Diversity, the Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution, and the Institute of Behavioural and Neural Sciences.

I have broad research interests, largely centred around the evolution of learning, behaviour and communication, with a special focus on marine mammals.

Latest paper(s)


Dialect variation in Mediterranean sperm whales shows evidence of cultural evolution in an isolated population Taylor A. Hersh, Paraskevi Alexiadou, José María Brotons, Margalida Cerdà, Enrico Pirotta, Alexandros Frantzis & Luke Rendell 2026 In: Proc Biol Sci (2026) 293 (2073): 20260165

Population isolation and bottlenecks can affect cultural evolution. This has been shown in bird vocal dialects but is less studied in mammals. The isolated and weakly structured population of sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) in the Mediterranean Sea provide an opportunity to address this knowledge gap. We studied dialect variation in this population using the species’ primary social vocalization, stereotyped patterns of clicks called codas. We analysed 5291 codas recorded over 112 days between 2003 and 2021 from both the western and eastern deep-water basins of the Mediterranean Sea. We confirmed previous studies showing the dominance of codas with a 3+1 pattern but also identified two distinct dialect groups. The 2+1 and slow 3+1 coda types identified the western dialect while the 8I and fast 3++1 coda types identified the eastern dialect. Notably, groups recorded in the east occasionally produced the ‘western’ slow 3+1 coda types but the converse was not true, suggesting a directionality in dialect formation. The similarities between the apparent effects of isolation on sperm whale dialects and isolation effects reported in studies of the cultural evolution of both bird song dialects and human languages suggest convergences in vocal dialect evolution across social taxa.

Confirmed vocal activity of Mediterranean monk seals in the Inner Ionian Sea Archipelago, Greece Amlin, A., Rendell, L. E., Pierantonio, N., Carmen Andrés-Hervías , C., Notarbartolo di Sciara, G., Hastie, G. D. & Gonzalvo, J., Apr 2025, In: Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. 157, 4, p. 3204–3213 10 p.

Mediterranean monk seals (Monachus monachus) are the world's rarest seal species, with fewer than 1000 individuals remaining across fragmented subpopulations. Monitoring this species is challenging due to their low densities and difficult-to-access habitats. Passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) data can be used to detect small numbers of animals over large areas, but for effective long-term PAM, it is essential to characterize the species' vocalizations throughout its range. This study provides a comprehensive description of the monk seal vocal repertoire in the Inner Ionian Sea Archipelago, Greece, and the first published documentation of the species vocalizing underwater. Acoustic recorders collected continuous data over 16 days during the breeding season in 2021. We identified 3442 calls, 1855 of which were determined to be high-quality and classified into ten call types within three broader categories. Video footage collected in 2019 and 2021 documented the seals producing five common call types, which comprised ∼87% of the recorded calls. Our findings offer insights into the structure of the monk seal vocal repertoire and lay the groundwork for long-term monitoring for this rare species using PAM, which could be an important tool for monitoring monk seals going forwards.

Book
Our book, The Cultural Lives of Whales and Dolphins is even available at Amazon! Hear it discussed on BBC Radio 4's "Start the Week". Listen to a podcast of a discussion between myself and author Phillip Hoare at the LSE Philosophy Forum here

Research

Sperm whale society and ecology
I have been studying the ecology, communication and societies of sperm whales, the largest of the toothed whales, showing how long lasting social groups use distinctive vocal dialects that appear to be culturally transmitted. Part of this work is my involvement in running the Balearics Sperm Whale Project and as a collaborator of the Dominica Sperm Whale Project.

Culture in whales and dolphins
In whales and dolphins we find examples of both complex communication and apparently widespread social learning, a simple form of culture. I am using statistical models to assess the evidence for social learning in wild cetaceans.

Learning in archerfish
Archerfish have the highly specialised hunting tactic of shooting down prey with water jets. The dexterity and accuracy with which they do this has made them a model system in visual cognition. We are studying their shooting behaviour and learning to understand how this adaptation has interacted with their cognition.

Human social learning
I use experimental approaches to understand how we negotiate the trade-offs involved in deciding whether to use social information to make simple decisions, as a window into how we have evolved to make best use of our cultural inheritance.

Evolutionary modelling
I also use evolutionary simulation models to understand how these processes like social learning might have evolved, and how they might be related to the evolution of other kinds of behaviour, such as cooperation and niche-construction.

Outreach

We value outreach work highly. Here are some links to some recent activities that myself and other lab members have been involved with: 

https://research.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/2020/03/19/humpback-whales-remixed/

https://www.dundeesciencecentre.org.uk/sea-symphonies; https://synergy.st-andrews.ac.uk/seasymphonies/

https://events.st-andrews.ac.uk/events/fringe-of-gold-biomusic/

Science without borders!

An approach to academic life: 12 guidelines for survival

Alumni

Dr Éadin O'Mahony finished with Oscar Gaggioati and I her PhD titled "Non-invasive DNA methodologies for population assessment of baleen whales in proposed critical habitats" in 2025.
 
Dr Franca Eichenberger finished her PhD with myself and Ellen Garland in 2024, titled "Unravelling the complex reproductive tactics of male humpback whales: an integrative analysis of paternity, age, testosterone, and genetic diversity".
 
Dr Alex South with myself, Ellen Garland and Emily Doolittle, completed his PhD "Cetacean Citations: Rhythmic Variability in the Composition and Recomposition of Humpback Whale Song" in 2024.
 
Dr Dagmar der Weduwen finished their PhD with Mike Webster and I titled "An Investigation of the Social Behaviour of Archerfish Toxotes spp." in 2024.
 
Dr Natalie Sinclair completed their PhD titled "The Cultural Evolution of Humpback Whale Song in the North Atlantic and South Pacific Oceans: A Study of Cumulative Culture, Fine-scale Evolution, and Public Engagement" in 2023.
 
Dr Nick Jones completed his PhD "Social behaviour and learning in Archerfish" with Mike Webster and I in 2020.
 
Dr Luca Lamoni completed his PhD "The role of individual behaviour in the collective cultural evolution of humpback whale songs” in 2018.
 
Dr Ellen Garland held her Newton International Fellowship in our group from 2015 to 2017.
 
Dr Kaitlin Palmer completed her PhD "Large-Scale and Long-Term Passive Acoustic Monitoring of Coastal Bottlenose Dolphins" in 2017.
 
Dr Elena Miu completed her PhD “Understanding human culture : theoretical and experimental studies of cumulative culture” in 2017.
 
Dr Charlotte Dunn finished her PhD "Insights into Blainville's Beaked Whale (Mesoplodon densirostris) communication" in January 2015.
 
Dr Thomas Morgan completed his PhD, co-supervised with Kevin Laland and titled "Experimental studies of human social learning and its evolution" in December 2013.
 
Dr Laurel Fogarty completed her PhD, co-supervised with Kevin Laland and titled "From social learning to culture: Mathematical and computational models of cultural evolution" in June 2012.
 
Dr Ricardo Antunes completed his PhD, co-supervised with Phil Hammond and Jonathan Gordon, and titled "Variation in sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) coda vocalizations and social structure in the North Atlantic Ocean" in March 2009

PhD supervision

  • Angela Amlin
  • Laia Garrobé Fonollosa
  • Jeanne Merindol
  • Melissa Ramsay

Selected publications

 

See more publications