The orca Gladis exists, although there is not one but 15. The one that has become famous on the internet in recent days and has led to all sorts of memes and publications for wreaking havoc on the Spanish coasts and even sinking yachts, in what scientists actually call white gladis, it is the most adult of the group. But in the same community there are juvenile specimens such as gray gladis, black gladis, small gladis … These animals have been showing very unusual behavior towards boats for about three years, sometimes causing significant damage. Scientists point to different hypotheses to explain orca lunges. However, there is no certainty that White Gladis is teaching the youngest specimens to hit boats due to alleged trauma caused by a crash in the past, as some posts have suggested have gone viral. In reality, the researchers don’t know how to explain the behavior of these killer whales, which they also associate with learned behaviors of curiosity and playfulness. Here’s what science knows about this peculiar group of whales that suddenly triumphed in the ocean of social media.
The spate of memes on social media has helped reinforce the image of the orca as a vengeful killer whale, deliberately attacking boats to harm them. An interpretation that, according to experts, is far from reality. The history of Gladis is young, dating back to May 2020 when the first documented interaction of one of these cetaceans (Orcinus orca) with a ship took place in the Strait of Gibraltar. A two-month truce was in place until attacks returned in July of the same year, then multiplying on the Portuguese coast and moving to northern Spain, to the Galician coast, from mid-August. Orcas follow the trail of their traveling supermarket: tuna. Since then, the whales haven’t stopped. So far in 2023, the Atlantic Orca organization has detected up to 53 interactions in the Strait of Gibraltar area: 12 have reported damage to vessels and 31 corresponded to sightings. A higher value than other years at the same time, although it is too early to draw any conclusions.
Have you heard of White Gladis, the orca that started a “revolution” in the sea? đâ”đ„
There is talk of possible organized crime and the following is known so far: pic.twitter.com/ssJrZnCyro
âpictoline (@pictoline) May 30, 2023
These animals are amazing. They approach the ship stealthily, often without the crew noticing; They inspect it carefully, curiously, and stand under the boat. You start touching it and bang your head on the rudder to turn it and can break it with a move of the lever. “They know that the boat is turning like this and that they can steer it,” explains Alberto LĂłpez, marine biologist and spokesman for the Orca AtlĂĄntica group. The faster and stronger the resistance of the person steering the oar, the harder the orcas push. The ship can drift and even sink, which has already happened three times.
LĂłpez explains that they decided to name the three specimens Gladis, which were more active in interactions at the beginning of everything, in 2020. To distinguish them, they added a surname and that’s how Gladis white, Gladis gray and Gladis black came about. “We named it in memory of the name that Bonaterre gave to the species in 1789: orca gladiator.” belong to at least two families – “Orcas are organized in stable social groups”. Gladis Blanca is the only adult (from 10 or 12 years old), the rest are juveniles or subadults. Orcas can live between 50 and 80 years. The rest of the Iberian Peninsula’s orca population, about 45 specimens that navigate between the Strait of Gibraltar and the Galician coast, do not show much interest in the boats.
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What drives these killer whales to reproduce such unusual and puzzling behavior? It’s the million dollar question. “We don’t know because we didn’t identify the whale that hit the first boat,” LĂłpez clarifies. One of the approaches the Orca AtlĂĄntica group is considering is the occurrence of self-induced behavior that is invented and repeated until it becomes routine. “But that profile suits the youngsters, who are more imaginative and proactive, but it didn’t suit us as adults,” he adds.
When in doubt, they added another hypothesis, suggesting that this adult person had experienced a traumatic encounter with a sailboat – his favorite boat – and that he was trying to stop the sailboat to avoid the moment of fear he might have experienced. not to be experienced again. They ruled out a collision because they did not find any specimen with violations of these characteristics. The only damage they discovered were wounds caused by killer whales feeding on tuna caught on longlines when they cut themselves on the line the tuna was hanging from. Tuna weigh between 200 and 400 kilos. “The bad experience could have happened with a sailboat with fishing lines at the stern and therefore his fixation on it,” he specifies.
Renaud de Stephanis, coordinator of the Cetacean Conservation, Information and Study Organization (CIRCE), points to a behavior related to “environmental enrichment and learning” that is transmitted from mothers to daughters, calves to calves and other relatives, but within the same Group . When they find something new in the sea, for example when a sunfish appears, they become interested and invent games. “The Gladis are the Gladis and there are only two groups involved because at the moment the behavior hasn’t been transmitted to other families that they don’t have as strong a bond with.” It’s like saying, ‘I’m bringing one to my kids culture but not the others.â CIRCE is working with the Ministry of Ecological Transition to tag killer whales in the Strait. Using the satellite data, a map of the approximate area they are moving through is being produced and made available to navigators on the ministry’s website to minimize the risk of encountering conflicted families.
The recommendations state that in the event of an encounter it is always better to navigate using the engine rather than the sail, not stopping the boat and navigating straight ahead towards shallower water at the highest possible speed until the killer whales lose the Control. Interest. And always sail as close to shore as possible, within safety limits, particularly near Barbate Bay where there is less risk of encountering pods of orcas.
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