The sailboat Mustique was on its way to Gibraltar when it was attacked by a group of killer whales on Friday. They destroyed the rudder and punctured the hull. The water rushed in and the crew of four had to call for help. The boat was towed ashore by the Spanish rescue service. This is what the hull looked like after the encounter with the killer whales. Photo: APRIL BOYES/INSTAGRAM @ APRIL_GE / Reuters This is just the latest attack by killer whales off the coast of Spain and Portugal. They have sunk three boats in the area in the last three years. In May alone, there have been at least 20 “interactions” between killer whales and boats, according to the research group Atlantic Orca Working Group-GTOA. Last year they registered 207 meetings. – It is unusual behavior that has only been discovered in this part of the world, says researcher Alfredo Lopez Fernandez from GTOA to Scientific American. He has also carried out a study on the phenomenon. Whale researchers news has spoken to have also not heard of such attacks anywhere else in the world. So why does this happen? Scientists aren’t sure, but they have several possible explanations. One hypothesis is about revenge. Killer whales swim by the boat. Photo: APRIL BOYES/INSTAGRAM @ APRIL_GE / Reuters The story of White Gladis At the heart of this theory is an orca named White Gladis. When the attacks started in May 2020, only she was involved. Later, more people joined. The researchers speculate whether White Gladis may have had a bad experience that made her hostile to boats. She may have collided with a boat or been entangled in a net. She began to catch up to boats, and the other killer whales followed her. Killer whales in Reisafjord near Tromsø in 2019. Photo: OLIVIER MORIN / AFP These are highly intelligent, social and emotional animals, with strong family ties. – The killer whales do this on purpose. We don’t know the origin or the motivation, but the explanation of defensive behavior based on a trauma as the origin of all this is being strengthened for us day by day, says Lopez Fernandez to Live Science. – Not just for fun This is also Eve Jourdain’s theory. She is a whale researcher at the University of Oslo and the Norwegian Orca Survey. – When they do this, they also hurt themselves, so I don’t think they would do it just for fun. I think there must be a purpose behind the behavior. It has probably developed in response to some form of threat, she says. – Since the animals have very close bonds, they learn the behavior to protect each other, and then maybe the whole group starts to do it, she adds. Whale watching in Washington in 2015. Photo: Elaine Thompson / AP Audun Rikardsen, professor of arctic marine biology at the University of Tromsø, Norway’s arctic university, says that may be the explanation for the attacks. But he also presents another alternative: – It could also be that this is a group that hunts larger animals, who can see this as a form of training, he says. Deborah Giles, a cetacean researcher at the University of Washington, believes there may be some kind of social trend among killer whales. – They are incredibly curious and playful animals, so this can be more like play than something aggressive, she tells Live Science. Killer whales in captivity at Sea World in San Diego, California. Photo: MIKE BLAKE / Reuters Threatened by humans The researchers in GTOA fear both for the safety of humans and killer whales if the attacks continue. Audun Rikardsen from UiT does not think it will go away by itself. – Not for that family group. They have lasted a long time, says Rikardsen. He is working on a project where they are testing different sounds to keep the animals at a distance. There may be a solution in this case too, he says. Killer whales underwater in Reisafjorden. Photo: OLIVIER MORIN / AFP Killer whales are a species that is strongly affected by human activity. As they are at the top of the food chain, many have extremely high levels of environmental toxins, as a result of the continuous pollution of the sea. Killer whales are also affected by increasing noise pollution due to large ship traffic. They communicate with many different sounds and use echolocation to hunt and navigate. Their food supply is also affected by the climate crisis, partly because it causes their prey to move.
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Killer whales attacked another boat – researchers believe the motive may be “revenge” – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
