2023-06-05 12:29:56
53 attacks have already been registered since January. Experts are puzzled as to what might be the reason for this behavior of the animals.
The fear can still be seen in the voices and eyes of victims months following the horror trip. “It took a long time. Maybe half an hour. But it seemed like an eternity to us,” said Andrea Fantini. Six or seven killer whales, also known as killer whales, attacked his racing yacht in the Strait of Gibraltar and “eaten up” the rudder blade, among other things, the boat captain reported, still visibly impressed. Orcas also attack other sea giants: in addition to tuna, herring, penguins, seals and seabirds, they also eat dolphins, other whales and sharks. So far, however, they have not been aiming for boats.
Ship crews reported the first incidents in spring 2020. Crews often recorded the encounters on video. You can then hear the screams of the surprised sailors: “Whoa, what a giant beast!”, “You scumbag!” and “He got us!”. Fantini’s boat was due in June 2022.
Media reports of orca attacks have been piling up this year. At least 53 have been registered since January, says biologist Alfredo López of the GT Atlantic Orca organization. Twelve boats were so badly damaged that they had to be towed away.
Again and once more in April and May, the maritime rescue service had to rescue affected crews from the Strait of Gibraltar. There were also incidents off the coast of Portugal and further north in the Atlantic off the Spanish region of Galicia. At the beginning of May, the Swiss boat “Champagne” even sank off Cádiz following an incident with orcas.
A solution must be found quickly, says Fantini. Otherwise, smaller ships would no longer be able to navigate the area between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, between Europe and Africa.
But why do so many orcas suddenly act like this? Researchers don’t know. They puzzle and sometimes contradict each other. López, a world-renowned marine biologist, has two theories. The first: The killer whales from the dolphin family might just have invented “something new”. They are highly intelligent, curious and very social beings who learn from their peers. It has already been observed in the past that individual orca groups have developed idiosyncratic habits. “But it might also be a response to a negative experience,” says López. “That means one or more animals may have had a bad experience and are trying to stop the boats so it doesn’t happen once more.” The expert suspects a mother orca of having initiated the attacks, which biologists prefer to call “interactions”. The whale lady also has a name: Gladis Blanca, White Gladis.
For example, she or one of her young might have been caught in a fishing net or hit by a boat. One of the things that speaks for a reaction to a negative experience is that Gladis Blanca even attacked boats with her newborn daughter in 2021. “The motivation that drives them to interact seems to be greater than the maternal protective instinct,” says López.
In contrast, Renaud de Stephanis believes that the orcas just want to have fun. “It is clear that these are games,” the president of the environmental organization Circe told RTVE. Younger animals have started this behavior, and now two mothers are also active, he assures.
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