Project CETI aims to translate cetacean communication and involves researchers like Cantor and Shane Gero in a broad effort to decode whale social behavior.

The CETI team plans continued research into whale language and social dynamics to deepen understanding of these complex behaviors.

The findings were published in Science, with the article date aligning with the 2026 release cycle.

The event underscores a broader social structure beyond kinship, highlighting the species’ social and cognitive complexity.

Researchers cannot yet determine the calf’s sex but expect to identify it in the field in coming months and may name the calf if possible.

Led by Shane Gero, CETI used hydrophones, drones, and video analysis to study Unit A during the July 2023 birth near Dominica, with data published in Science.

Project CETI emphasizes decades of fieldwork and its goal of expanding public understanding and protection of cetaceans through deep social and behavioral context of whale births.

The findings contribute to a broader reinterpretation of whale intelligence and social structure, decentering humans and highlighting non-human cognition and cooperation.

A rare 2023 video from Project CETI shows a sperm whale birth near Dominica in which eleven females from two related lineages coordinate to support the calf as it is born and brought to the surface.

The scene reveals complex non-kin cooperation within a long-standing social unit, prompting new questions about how such groups form, select members, and maintain coordination in the wild.

Researchers used drones, boats, buoys, and underwater microphones to map each whale’s body and movements, uncovering pronounced interactions across the unit and beyond kinship ties.

The work was conducted by Project CETI with collaborators including Mauricio Cantor and David Gruber, and supported by the Cetacean Translation Initiative.