Over the past few years, there have been terrifying incidents of killer whales targeting and even sinking boats. Just take the instance where a pod of orcas sank a yacht off the coast of Fonte da Telha beach.
Now, scientists believe they have an answer for why killer whales appear to be attacking boats. It turns out they may just be playing. That bit of roughhousing has caused boats to sink, but the animals see it as playing.
Speaking with the Daily Mail, Renaud de Stephanis, president of the Conservation, Information and Research on Cetaceans (CIRCE) in Spain, explained what's going on.
"What is happening with the Iberian orcas and boats is not an attack in the sense of aggression, predation, or territorial defense," he told the Daily Mail. "This interaction is closer to a game than to an attack. They are not mistaking the boats for prey, nor are they defending territory."
Killer Whales
The researcher believes the incidents show playful behavior among the species. Still, to humans, it can be terrifying.
"What we have been documenting in the Strait of Gibraltar, the Gulf of Cádiz, and Portugal is a game-like behaviour developed by a small subpopulation of orcas," Dr de Stephanis said. "They focus on the rudder of sailboats because it reacts dynamically when pushed - it moves, vibrates, and provides resistance. In other words, it is stimulating for them."
So boat rudders are like toys to them. Dr. Clare Andvik, a marine mammal expert at the University of Oslo, agrees with this assessment about killer whales.
"It is exciting and rewarding for them to play with the rudder of a boat - it is a big object that extends down into the water and moves around when they hit it," Andvik told the Daily Mail. "Even more fun for them is if a human is trying to and steer the rudder as well, then they get a bit of resistance and it is almost like a type of tug of war. Of course from the human perspective this kind of behaviour is not at all fun and it doesn't seem to them like a game as they are getting knocked around."
She also said, "And in some cases the rudder can be broken off completely and cause the boat to take on water and eventually sink [which is] fun for the orcas, not for the humans."
