The diffusion of cooperative and solo bubble net feeding in Canadian Pacific humpback whales

Animal culture, in which information and behaviours are acquired and shared through social networks by social learning, is a form of biodiversity with intrinsic and practical value. Cooperative foraging, a mutualistic resource acquisition behaviour observed across diverse taxa, is strongly connected to social networks via behavioural states, cues, and often social learning, as it typically involves high interaction rates. Understanding the distribution, diffusion and learning mechanisms of such cooperative behaviours is an important but understudied aspect of nonhuman culture. Bubble net feeding (‘bubble netting’) is a specialised foraging technique practised by certain humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) populations globally. Over 20 years in the northern Canadian Pacific, we observed the diffusion of two forms: social cooperative and independent, or ‘solo’, bubble netting. Network-based diffusion analysis – a tool to test for social learning – finds strong evidence for social lear..., , # Data from: The diffusion of cooperative and solo bubble net feeding in Canadian Pacific humpback whales

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.dr7sqvbc3](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.dr7sqvbc3)

## Description of the data and file structure

A network-based diffusion analysis of humpback whale bubble net feeding in the Kitimat Fjord System (NE Pacific). Code and data also stored on GitHub: [https://github.com/eadinomahony/humpback-bubble-netting-NBDA](https://github.com/eadinomahony/humpback-bubble-netting-NBDA) 

Recommended citation:

#### **Wray, J.^+^, O'Mahony, É.^+^, Baer, G., Robinson, N., Dundas, A., Gaggiotti, O.E., Rendell, L., Keen, E.M. 2025.** ***The diffusion of cooperative and solo bubble net feeding in Canadian Pacific humpback whales.*** **Proceedings of the Royal Society B.**

^+^Shared lead authorship.

Maintained by Éadin N. O'Mahony ([[e-mail]](mailto:[e-mail])).

A project in collaboration with the Gitga'at First Nation and the North Coast Ceta...,