Killer whales reportedly attacked and sank three boats off the coast of Spain in an apparent act of revenge that experts fear other whales of their pod could copy.
“The little ones were shaking the rudder at the rear, while the big one was repeatedly backing up and ramming the ship with full force from the side,” Werner Schafelberger told German newspaper Yacht. “Two small killer whales watched the strategy of the larger one and after a slight run additionally they hit the boat.”
Since May 2020, there have been lots of of incidents between killer whales and boats off the coast of the Iberian Peninsula, all but a couple of leading to only minor injuries or damage. Nevertheless, attacks have change into more frequent, with several of them sinking boats, the most up-to-date being this month.
Marine biologist Alfredo Lopez Fernandez said Live learning that the leading whale, a female killer whale, which scientists have named White Gladis, experienced a “critical moment of agony”, possibly crashing right into a boat or becoming entangled in fishing line, which made her more aggressive.
The whales approached the boat from behind, hitting the boat’s rudder or hull, sailors and other eyewitnesses said.
“This traumatic killer whale is the one which began this physical contact with the boat,” Fernandez said.
“We do not interpret that killer whales are teaching the young, although this behavior has spread to the young vertically, just by imitation, and later horizontally amongst them because they consider it something vital of their lives,” he added.
Fernandez speculated that orcs might view this behavior as “advantageous” despite the risks of such brazen attacks. He said 4 killer whales from the same subpopulation have died since May 2020.
The behavior can have spread even beyond this population, and a British couple recently shared their very own experience of an orca attack near the Moroccan coast.
Janet Morris and Stephen Bidwell, from Cambridge in eastern England, were recently attending a sailing course off the coast of Morocco once they spotted a flock of killer whales.
The attack lasted an hour as the whales repeatedly hit the boat, but the crew managed to navigate to calmer waters and safely. Morris said he was fearful they were “sitting geese”.
“We were incredibly calm, but deep down we thought, ‘Oh my God,’ Morris told UK news website SWNS.
According to Marine Mammal Science, scientists have documented killer whales exhibiting violent behavior and seeming to teach them to others: In a single incident, a gaggle of killer whales attacked, killed, and ate blue whales.