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Orcas are attacking sailboats off the Iberian Peninsula again, destroying rudders and stranding crews. In August, killer whales tore the rudder off a German boat in the Vigo estuary in Galicia, Spanish newspaper Faro de Vigo reported.
Marine scientists who study orcas have been busy. They’ve seen the killer whales wearing fish as a fashion statement, using kelp to exfoliate, and of course harassing yachtsmen, just to be jerks. Now comes news that the apex predators are engaging in more altruistic behavior: they’re bringing us gifts.
Last week conservationists in the Pacific Whale Watch Association spotted an orca calf with its mom and more than a dozen other killer whales in the Salish Sea, the waters between Seattle and Vancouver. The mother, known to the whale watchers as “Sedna,” comes from a historic line of orcas rescued from SeaWorld.
It’s been nearly 40 years since killer whales off the west coast of North America were spotted wearing dead salmon on their heads. No one knows why this whacky trend began or why it ended, but we do know it’s back.
The orcas were still at it off the coast of Spain on Halloween when a small but persistent pod of the killer whales harassed a boat for a solid 45 minutes, causing enough damage to sink it.
The Summer of Annoying Orcas continues as rambunctious killer whales continue to “play” with sailboats off the Spanish coast by ramming them, sometimes causing real damage. Scientists studying the odd behavior say that young orcas in the pod might be learning how to harass boats by copying their elders.
Only a handful of species undergo menopause – six, as far as we know, including humans and some toothed whales, among them orcas. Researchers are investigating why female orcas live for decades beyond their reproductive years, and it could be to keep the peace among younger members of the pod, especially the males.
The rambunctious orcas off the coast of Spain continue to harass boats, going so far to disturb a couple of entrants in The Ocean Race last week. More concerning, now come reports of killer whales ramming boats off the coast of Scotland, some 2,000 miles from the original attacks.
Orcas – killer whales – are attacking small boats off the Iberian coast in Europe. There's been at least three apparently coordinated (!) attacks in recent weeks, and scientists believe the aggressive behavior is being taught to, or at least copied by, other pods.
Why are killer whales attacking sailboats off the European coastline? Scientists pondering this question have no answer, but they do have some wacky theories. This week NPR reported the harrowing tale of a sailing trip off the French coast, in which a father-daughter crew was surrounded and hounded by an unknown number of orcas, ramming their 37-foot boat for a solid 15 minutes.
