Researchers have come up with a terrifying theory why orcas are attacking boats, as a pod destroyed a family outing.
A family’s idyllic Mediterranean jaunt turned into the stuff of nightmares when several killer whales attacked the Spaniards’ sailing boat, apparently unprovoked.
The marine mammals tore off a sizeable chunk of the rudder blade, more than two metres long when the family were a couple of miles off Punta Camarinal .
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Speaking to local paper El Mundo the boat owner said: “I don’t know if these whales really just wanted to play or what, but when you’re attacked by an eight-metre-long beast weighing several tons that can sink its teeth into aluminium, you get scared.”
(Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
It’s one of the latest of many attacks waged by the killer whales off the coast of Spain, in particular, around the Strait of Gibraltar. From 2020 to the end of June 2024, 84 orca-driven assaults have been recorded.
While many have suggested the orcas are playing when they attack, a researcher has suggested the attacks could be the orcas fighting back, after suffering negative boating experiences such as being caught in fishing nets.
Atlantic Orca biologist Alfredo López, is looking into why orcas are terrifying boaters, and is currently floating two theories on the attacks, reports Bluewin.
(Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
The first is that the highly intelligent animals have invented a new activity, and “imitate each other in group” or are reacting to a negative experience, such as getting caught in a fishing net or colliding with a boat.
López theory supports the thoughts of Frankie Hobro, director of Anglesey Sea Zoo, who also said the attacks could be down to a negative experience.
She said: “These orcas are clearly showing some kind of recently acquired habitual or learned behaviour towards the boats, most likely due to a negative encounter or experience one or some of them have had, which has then been communicated to the others.
(Image: Getty Images)
“It could be carried out in fun, frustration or simply curiosity, or a mixture of all three of these as orcas are incredibly intelligent and complex animals and there are many aspects of their interactions and behaviour that we don’t completely understand.”
In another recent attack, crew on board sail boat Bonhomme William were forced to send out a distress signal and jump ship, after they were attacked by killer whales, off the coast of Tarifa on the Strait of Gibraltar on July 24.
By the time the Spanish emergency services reached the boat, it was already half submerged, reports El Mundo. The three people on board, two Brits and an Italian, were rescued and brought back to solid land unharmed.
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