Orcas are making headlines as incidents of orca ambushing boats are becoming more common. It even happened twice to one boat captain – the second time it seemed more targeted.
Dan Kriz told Newsweek that his boat first encountered a pod of killer whales in 2020 when he and his crew were delivering a yacht through the Strait of Gibraltar, which runs between Spain and Morocco. While anecdotes about orca ambushes have only recently gained popularity, he says he was on one of the first boats to witness the “very unusual” behavior.
“I was surrounded by a pack of eight orcas and pushed the boat around for about an hour,” Kriz said, adding that the ship’s rudder was so damaged that they had to be towed to the nearest marina.
Click here to view related media.
Click to expand
Then, in April, it happened again near the Canary Islands, he said. At first Kriz thought they had been hit by a wave, but when they felt a sudden force again, he realized they weren’t just feeling the wrath of the water.
“My first reaction was, ‘Please! Not again,'” Kraz told Newsweek. “There’s not much you can do. They are very powerful and clever.”
Video of the encounter shows orcas “biting off both oars,” with one of the whales swimming around with a piece of the oar in its mouth, he said.
This time, the orcas appeared to be more stealthy as they approached — and even seemed to know exactly what to do to prevent the boat from traveling any further, Kriz said.
“For the first time we could hear them communicating under the boat,” he told Newsweek. “They were silent this time, and it wasn’t long before they destroyed both oars. … Seems like they know exactly what they’re doing. You haven’t touched anything else.”
The attack on the oars lasted about 15 minutes. But when the crew made their way to the Spanish coast, they came back.
“Suddenly a large adult orca started chasing us. After a few minutes she was under the boat and that’s when we realized there was a small piece of fiberglass left and she wanted to finish the job,” said Kriz. “We didn’t see her after that.”
Kriz is just one of several people who have had encounters with orcas off the coasts of Portugal and Spain in recent months. Over the past two years, orca research group GTOA found that incidents have more than tripled, with 52 interactions in 2020 and 207 in 2022.
Biologist and conservationist Jeff Corwin previously told CBS News the behavior “shows the incredible intelligence” of the whales.
“What we see is adaptive behavior. We’re learning how they actually learn from their environment and then use those skills, share them and teach them to other whales,” he said.
He said there are two main theories as to why this is happening: first, that it is some kind of “game” or “sport” for the whales, and second, that it is the result of a “negative experience, a traumatic event” after years is of boats hitting and injuring whales.
But the truth about why orca whales rammed boats remains a mystery.
“No one knows why this is happening,” Andrew Trites, professor and director of marine mammal research at the University of British Columbia, told CBS News. “My idea, or what anyone would give you, is educated speculation. It is a complete mystery, unprecedented.”
Killer whales are the only whale species that appear to attack boats in this region, and while the reason is unclear, Trites said something positively reinforces the behavior among them.
Caitlin O’Kane contributed to this report.
trending news
Li Cohen