orca vs yachts

Why are orcas attacking boats and sometimes sinking them?

After four years and hundreds of incidents, researchers remain puzzled why orcas, also known as killer whales, continue to ram boats – sinking a few of them – along the Iberian Peninsula. The most-recent incident was the sinking of a yacht on Oct. 31 in the Strait of Gibraltar.

The origin of these interactions remain a "great mystery," said Alfredo López, a University of Santiago biologist, but he does not believe the behavior is aggressive. Orcas are large dolphins, López said. And like dolphins, the events could stem from the orcas’ curious and playful behavior, such as trying to race the boats.

López, who specializes in orcas, and his team, Grupo de trabajo Orca Atlántica (GOTA) , have tracked these encounters since 2020. The team’s recent study theorizes the orcas could also be exhibiting cautionary behavior because of some previous traumatic incident.

Where have killer whales interacted with boats?

GOTA has tracked more than 350 interactions just on the Iberian Peninsula since 2020. Most have taken place along the Strait of Gibraltar, but the orcas’ mischief or self-defense may be spreading north. An incident was reported in June in the  Shetland Islands in Scotland .

GOTA defines interactions as instances when orcas react to the presence of approaching boats, such as:

• Interaction without physical contact.
• Some physical contact without damage.
• Contact that causes serious damage that could prevent the navigation of the boat.

Recent incidents when orcas attacked boats and sank them

The Oct. 31 incident occurred in the Strait of Gibraltar where a pod of orcas sank a mid-size sailing yacht named the Grazie Mamma after a 45-minute interaction,  Live Science reported . 

On June 19 an orca rammed a 7-ton yacht multiple times off the Shetland Islands in Scotland, according to an account from retired Dutch physicist Dr. Wim Rutten in the Guardian.

"Killer whales are capable of traveling large distances, so it is not out of the ordinary that an animal could travel that far," said Tara Stevens, a marine scientist at CSA Ocean Sciences Inc. "To my knowledge, this data is not available, so we cannot confirm at this time if these are the same animals." 

Including the Oct. 31 incident, orcas have sunk four boats this year. The previous sinking occured in May , off the coasts of Portugal and Spain, but whale expert Anne Gordon told USA TODAY  in May that the incidents shouldn't heighten concerns about the whales.

"Yes, they're killer whales. And yes, their job is to be predators in the ocean, but in normal circumstances there is absolutely zero threat to humans in a boat," Gordon said .

Most of the interactions have involved sailboats, but fishing boats, semi-rigid boats and motorboats haven’t gone unscathed. 

Are these the same killer whales attacking boats or unrelated incidents?

López hypothesizes that the interactions could be a self-induced behavior where you're "inventing something new and repeat it. This behavior coincides with the profile of the juveniles." He said it could also be response to an aversive situation: "One or several individuals had lived a bad experience and tried to stop the boat so as not to repeat it. This behavior coincides with the profile of adults."

"Fifteen different orcas from at least three different communities" have been identified, López said. And they are probably teaching the habit to others, or the others are mimicking the behavior. "Without a doubt orcas learn by imitation," López said.  The majority of the culprits are juveniles that touch, push and sometimes turn the vessels. He noted that adult males don't appear to be involved.

"Killer whales are incredibly intelligent animals that do learn behaviors from observation of other individuals," Stevens said. "Typically, very unique behaviors such as this are learned 'within' group, meaning individuals of the group may learn from each other and participate, but that does not necessarily mean that the behavior is shared outside the group with other individuals."

Which pods of killer whales are battering the boats?

Orcas operate in a social structure called a pod. These pods generally are a group of several generations of related orcas. Hierarchies are established within them, and they communicate and learn from one another, the study reads.

GOTA researchers have identified the individuals responsible for the interactions . One large pod is made up of three generations. It starts with grandmother Gladis Lamari, her daughter, grandchildren and a few other relatives.

Another pod comprises siblings Gladis Negra and Gladis Peque. Both have been photographed interacting with boats. Their mother, Gladis Herbille, has generally just watched her children at a distance from the boats, the study said.

A third group in the study are siblings and a cousin.

Orcas often tracking bluefin tuna

The movements of orcas depend on the location of their main food source, bluefin tuna. The migratory movements of tuna are very dynamic and predicting exactly where interactions will take place is very difficult, the report said. According to NOAA , Atlantic bluefin tuna are the largest in the tuna family and can reach a length of 13 feet and up to 2,000 pounds. They are a highly migratory species and can migrate thousands of miles across an entire ocean.

About the Iberian orcas

While they are called killer whales, orcas are actually the largest member of the dolphin family. This aquatic marine mammal family includes whales, dolphins and porpoises.

The Iberian orca is a subpopulation of the Atlantic orca population. These orcas are from the Strait of Gibraltar and the Gulf of Cádiz. Iberian orcas are small: 16 to 21 feet compared with Atlantic orcas that measure almost 30 feet.

Orcas in general are fast, reaching speeds up to 27.6 mph. By comparison, a 39-foot sailboat travels at about 9.2 mph.

What should you do if your boat is attacked by killer whales

The study recommended these tips to reduce the duration and intensity of the interaction.

• Stop the boat.
• Leave the rudder loose.
• Radio for help.

According to the GOTA study, most of the vessels involved in interactions are medium-sized (less than 49 feet) sailboats, with a paddle rudder, sailing at an average of 6.9 mph, under both sail and motor.

The interactions have been mostly concentrated in the spring and summer months and have been concentrated in the midday hours. They've lasted on average for 40 minutes, but several last less than 30 minutes. 

Types of rudders Iberian orcas have approached

"It is very common for dolphins to interact with the boats and approach," López said. "Before 2020, the orcas did it with frequency but they weren't classified as attacks. Now, sometimes they touch the boat and the encounter is unfairly classified as an attack. They judge socially before understanding what (orcas) do."

May 24, 2023

Why Has a Group of Orcas Suddenly Started Attacking Boats?

Killer whales in a group near Spain and Portugal may be teaching one another to mess with small boats. They sank their third vessel earlier this month

By Stephanie Pappas

A group of three orcas, also known as killer whales, are seen swimming in the Strait of Gibraltar. Individuals in the critically endangered subpopulation have been attacking boats off the coast of the Iberian Peninsula.

Malcolm Schuyl/Alamy Stock Photo

A trio of orcas attacked a boat in the Strait of Gibraltar earlier this month, damaging it so badly that it sank soon afterward.

The May 4 incident was the third time killer whales ( Orcinus orca ) have sunk a vessel off the coasts of Portugal and Spain in the past three years. The subpopulation of orcas in this region began harassing boats, most often by biting at their rudder, in 2020. Almost 20 percent of these attacks caused enough damage to disable the vessels, says Alfredo López, an orca researcher at the Atlantic Orca Working Group (GTOA), which monitors the Iberian killer whale population. “It is a rare behavior that has only been detected in this part of the world,” he says.

Researchers aren’t sure why the orcas are going after the watercraft. There are two hypotheses, according to López. One is that the killer whales have invented a new fad, something that subpopulations of these members of the dolphin family are known to do. Much as in humans, orca fads are often spearheaded by juveniles, López says. Alternatively, the attacks may be a response to a bad past experience involving a boat.

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The first known incident occurred in May 2020 in the Strait of Gibraltar, an area with heavy boat traffic. Since then GTOA has recorded 505 cases of orcas reacting to boats. Sometimes they simply approached the vessels, and only a fraction of cases involved physical contact, López says. In a study published in June 2022 in Marine Mammal Science , he and his colleagues cataloged 49 instances of orca-boat contact in 2020 alone. The vast majority of the attacks were on sailboats or catamarans, with a handful involving fishing boats and motorboats. The average length of the vessels was 12 meters (39 feet). For comparison, a full-grown orca can be 9.2 meters (30 feet) long.

The researchers found that the orcas preferentially attack the boats’ rudder, sometimes scraping the hull with their teeth. Such attacks often snap the rudder, leaving the boat unable to navigate. In three cases, the animals damaged a boat so badly that it sank: In July 2022 they sank a sailboat with five people onboard. In November 2022 they caused a sailboat carrying four to go down. And finally, in this month’s attack, the Swiss sailing yacht Champagne had to be abandoned, and the vessel sank while it was towed to shore. In all cases, the people onboard were rescued safely.

In 2020 researchers observed nine different individual killer whales attacking boats; it’s unclear if others have since joined in. The attacks tended to come from two separate groups: a trio of juveniles occasionally joined by a fourth and a mixed-aged group consisting of an adult female named White Gladis, two of her young offspring and two of her sisters. Because White Gladis was the only adult involved in the initial incidents, the researchers speculate that she may have become entangled in a fishing line at some point, giving her a bad association with boats. Other adult orcas in the region have injuries consistent with boat collisions or entanglement, López says. “All this has to make us reflect on the fact that human activities, even in an indirect way, are at the origin of this behavior,” he says.

The safe rescue of everyone involved, however, suggests to Deborah Giles that these orcas don’t have malevolent motivations against humans. Giles, science and research director of the Washington State–based nonprofit conservation organization Wild Orca, points out that humans relentlessly harassed killer whales off the coasts of Washington and Oregon in the 1960s and 1970s, capturing young orcas and taking them away for display at marine parks. “These are animals that, every single one of them, had been captured at one point or another—most whales multiple times. And these are whales that saw their babies being taken away from them and put on trucks and driven away, never to be seen again,” Giles says. “And yet these whales never attacked boats, never attacked humans.”

Though it’s possible that the orcas around the Iberian Peninsula could be reacting to a bad experience with a boat, Giles says, it’s pure speculation to attribute that motivation to the animals. The behavior does seem to be learned, she says, but could simply be a fad without much rhyme or reason—to the human mind, anyway. Famously, some members of the Southern Resident orcas that cruise Washington’s Puget Sound each summer and fall spent the summer of 1987 wearing dead salmon on their head. There was no apparent reason for salmon hats to come in vogue in orca circles, but the behavior spread and persisted for a few months before disappearing again. “We’re not going to know what’s happening with this population,” Giles says, referring to the Iberian orcas.

The Iberian orca attacks typically last less than 30 minutes, but they can sometimes go on for up to two hours, according to the 2022 study. In the case of the Champagne, two juvenile killer whales went after the rudder while an adult repeatedly rammed the boat, crew members told the German magazine Yacht . The attack lasted 90 minutes.

The Iberian orca subpopulation is considered critically endangered, with only 39 animals the last time a full census was conducted in 2011. A 2014 study found that this subpopulation follows the migration of their key prey , Atlantic bluefin tuna—a route that puts them in close contact with human fishing, military activities and recreational boating. Maritime authorities recommend that boaters in the area slow down and try to stay away from orcas, López says, but there is no guaranteed way to avoid the animals. He and his colleagues fear the boat attacks will come back and bite the orcas, either because boaters will lash out or because the attacks are dangerous to the animals themselves. “They run a great risk of getting hurt,” López says.

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Why are killer whales going ‘Moby-Dick’ on yachts lately? Experts doubt it’s revenge

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The attacks started suddenly and inexplicably in the spring of 2020 — pods of endangered killer whales began ramming yachts and fishing boats in European waters, pushing some off course and imperiling others.

Since then, there have been more than 500 reports of orca encounters off the Iberian Peninsula, the most recent occurring Thursday when a trio of whales rubbed against and bumped a racing sloop in the Strait of Gibraltar.

In most cases, the financial and structural damage has ranged from minimal to moderate: Boats have been spun and pushed, and rudders have been smashed and destroyed. Three vessels have been so badly mauled, they’ve sunk.

As the encounters continue, shaky video captured by thrilled and fearful seafarers has ignited a global internet sensation, while experts have struggled to explain the behavior and its timing. The seemingly militant whales have also won over a legion of adoring fans — many transfixed by the notion that the mammals are targeting rich people and exacting revenge for all the wrongs humanity has waged on their species and their ocean home.

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Others wonder if the unusually large pods of multi-ton cetaceans now appearing off the coasts of San Francisco , Monterey and Nantucket, Mass., may soon follow suit.

Despite such rampant speculation on social media, most killer whale scientists have offered a very different interpretation. The Moby-Dick “revenge” narrative for the behavior is highly unlikely, they say.

“That just doesn’t sit right with me,” said Deborah Giles, an orca researcher at the University of Washington in Seattle and director of Wild Orca, a Washington-based conservation research organization.

She noted that despite the long history of orcas being hunted by whalers — and more recently marine parks — these top ocean predators have typically demonstrated a lack of aggression toward humans. There are no verified instances of orcas killing humans in the wild. The only deaths have occurred in marine parks and aquariums, where animals taken from the wild and forced to perform for humans in small tanks have attacked their trainers.

“So, I just don’t really see it as an agonistic activity; I just don’t see it going down like that,” said Giles, who has studied killer whales in the Pacific Ocean, Puget Sound and the Salish Sea for nearly 20 years.

Instead, she thinks the animals are engaging with boats because the vessels are “either making an interesting vibration or sound, or maybe it’s the way the water moves past the keels that is intriguing to these animals.”

The scientific literature is rife with anecdotes and research showing high cognition, playfulness and sociality in the species known as Orcinus orca — and examples of what appear to be the cultural transmission of new behaviors, either via teaching or observation.

In 1987, a female orca in the Pacific waters off North America was spotted sporting a dead salmon on her head. Within weeks, individuals in two other pods also began wearing fish hats. The trend lasted a few months and fizzled out within a year.

In South Africa, the killing of white sharks appears to be growing in popularity among a resident group of killer whales in the waters near Cape Town; Giles has watched a local trend of “phocoenacide” — porpoise killing — grow among a group of whales off the San Juan Islands.

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In both cases, the behavior does not appear to be for the purpose of feeding, Giles said. The orcas do not eat the dead animals. For instance, in the case of the porpoises, the killer whales played with them — bandying them about, sometimes surfing with them, other times carrying them on the orcas’ pectoral fins — until the porpoises drowned, at which point they were abandoned, she said.

“Fads” are not unique to orcas. Other animals, including primates and other cetaceans, have also been observed to adopt new behaviors, which then spread through a social group.

Susan Perry, a biological anthropologist at UCLA, has studied a population of capuchin monkeys in Costa Rica, where she has observed and demonstrated the cultural transmission of novel behaviors, including “eye poking” — in which one monkey slips its finger “knuckle deep” between the eyelid and the bottom of another monkey’s eyeball.

But the idea that the whales’ behavior is a response to trauma has gripped many — including the researchers who most closely study this population and first documented the behavior.

In a paper published last year , a team of Portuguese and Spanish researchers suggested the behavior seen in the Strait of Gibraltar orcas could have been triggered by a variety of causes, including trauma.

Alfredo López Fernandez, a killer whale researcher with GT Orca Atlántica, a Portuguese conservation research organization, said it is impossible to know how it started, or which whale or whales may have initially instigated the attacks.

He listed several adult females as the possible original perpetrators — which then taught or showed others how to participate.

There is White Gladis, which seems to be present in most of the attacks; Gladis Negra, which was observed to have injuries in 2020, possibly from a ship strike; and Gray Gladis, which in 2018 witnessed another whale get trapped in fishing gear.

Gladis is a name given to all orcas in the pod that interact with boats; it comes from Orca gladiator, an early nickname given to these boat-jouncing killer whales.

“All of this has to make us reflect on the fact that human activities, even in an indirect way, are the origin of this behavior,” he said.

For Cal Currier’s part, he thinks the whales are entertaining themselves.

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On June 8, as the 17-year-old Palo Alto High School senior sailed through the strait with his father, James, 55, and brother, West, 19, their 30-foot sailboat was accosted and spun in circles.

The rudder was battered, and the trio had to be towed to shore in Spain. “They were playing,” Currier said.

He said that when they pulled in, they were told roughly 30 other boats were ahead of them in line for repairs; half were damaged by the killer whales. He said there were no bite marks on the rudder, and he did not sense aggression from the whales.

For Giles, the Washington killer whale researcher, her biggest concern is that the longer the whales continue this behavior, the more likely it is they’ll get injured or suffer retribution at the hands of humans.

She’s hoping authorities in the region will consider non-traumatic hazing techniques — such as instructing boats to play or make sounds that irritate the whales — to get them to stop. She said studies have shown orcas don’t like the calls of pilot whales and will generally swim away if they hear them. Loud banging sounds, such as hitting a large, metal oikomi pipe underwater, can also be effective.

“Anything that might irritate them, make them lose their interest or swim away,” Giles said.

Currier said he wasn’t too rattled by the whole experience — unlike his dad and brother, who were “scared for their lives.”

The trio have since sold the boat and intend to spend the rest of the vacation on dry land.

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A pod of orcas has sunk a yacht in the Strait of Gibraltar

Ayana Archie

A pair of orcas swim off the west coast of Vancouver Island in 2018. Brian Gisborne/AP hide caption

A pair of orcas swim off the west coast of Vancouver Island in 2018.

For 45 minutes, the crew of the Grazie Mamma felt like they were under attack from below. A pod of orcas had zeroed in on the yacht's rudder as it made its way through the Strait of Gibraltar last week, and rammed it repeatedly, "causing major damage and leakage," according to the company that operated the boat.

Rescuers were able to save the crew and return them safely to port in Tanger-Med on the coast of Morocco. Their vessel, though, sank into the sea.

"This yacht was the most wonderful thing in maritime sailing for all of us," read a statement posted to Facebook by Morskie Mile , the Warsaw-based touring company that operated the boat. "Very good memories will be transferred to Grazie Mamma II. Love of the sea always wins and friendships remain with us."

The company said it is working to ensure its upcoming trips to the Canary Islands go on without a hitch.

Last week's incident was the latest in a string of recent "attacks" by orcas in the waters separating southern Europe and northern Africa — encounters that have left researchers scratching their heads.

Killer whales are 'attacking' sailboats near Europe's coast. Scientists don't know why

Since 2020, there have been about 500 encounters between orcas and boats, Alfredo López Fernandez, a coauthor of a 2022 study in the journal Marine Mammal Science, told NPR earlier this year. At least three boats have sunk, though there is no record of an orca killing a human in the wild.

Scientists have been trying to pinpoint the cause of the behavior.

One theory among researchers is they're just playing around. Other researchers say it may be that the whales like the feel of the rudder.

"What we think is that they're asking to have the propeller in the face," said Renaud de Stephanis, president and coordinator at CIRCE Conservación Information and Research in Spain, in an interview with NPR last year. When they encounter a sailboat without its engine on, "they get kind of frustrated and that's why they break the rudder," de Stephanis said.

Another theory is that the behavior may be some sort of act of revenge due to possibly traumatic , previous encounters with fishing boats.

Revenge of the killer whales? Recent boat attacks might be driven by trauma

"I definitely think orcas are capable of complex emotions like revenge," Monika Wieland Shields, director of the Orca Behavior Institute previously told NPR. Shields said she does not think "we can completely rule it out," even if she was not entirely convinced herself.

Deborah Giles, the science and research director at conservation group Wild Orca, says pods in other areas, such as near Washington state, have been targeted by humans, but haven't shown a pattern of ramming boats.

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Which underscores why researchers say it's difficult to draw any conclusions from the interactions documented to date. In an open letter published this summer, 30 scientists cautioned against "projecting narratives onto these animals," writing that "In the absence of further evidence, people should not assume they understand the animals' motivations."

Correction Nov. 7, 2023

An earlier version of this story misstated the yacht's name, Grazie Mamma, as Grazie Mamma II.

Why orcas keep sinking boats

Scientists have some theories why killer whales have seriously damaged boats about a dozen times this year off the coast of spain and portugal.

In the early morning Thursday, killer whales smashed into a sailboat off the southern coast of Spain, puncturing its hull and damaging its rudder. Spanish authorities raced to save the sinking vessel, according to Reuters , but it was in such disrepair it had to be towed ashore.

It wasn’t the first attack by an orca, or killer whale, off the coast of Spain and Portugal this year. And it may not be the last time one chews a rudder or crashes into a hull. Normally, killer whales aren’t considered dangerous to humans. But pods of killer whales have done serious damage to boats in the region about a dozen times already this year, according to the Grupo de Trabajo Orca Atlántica, or GTOA, a research group studying the region’s killer whales, part of a rise in attacks first observed in 2020.

Stories and videos of the attacks widely shared on social media have turned the orca into a meme. After the marine mammals struck some fancy yachts, some observers are calling the strikes concentrated around the Strait of Gibraltar, where the whales congregate in the spring and summer, an act of anti-capitalist solidarity from “orca comrades” and “orca saboteurs.” For others, the series of strikes is eerily similar to a scene in James Cameron’s latest “Avatar” movie , “The Way of the Water.”

So what is happening? The scientists studying the whales themselves aren’t entirely sure, either. But they have two leading ideas:

Theory No. 1: The orcas are playing around

Closely related to bottlenose dolphins, orcas are highly intelligent and curious marine mammals. Using a series of underwater pulses and whistles, the whales communicate with such sophistication that pods form their own dialects and parents teach their young hunting methods that are passed along for generations.

After learning a new behavior, juvenile orcas often keep repeating it ad nauseam. (In that way, they are a lot like human youngsters.) Playing around is just a part of learning how to be an apex predator.

That matches the pattern of attacks whale scientists have witnessed this year, according to Alfredo López Fernandez, a researcher at the University of Aveiro in Portugal working with GTOA.

In this case, the behavior is “self-induced,” López Fernandez said, and not caused directly by some outside (i.e., human) provocation. “Which means that they invent something new and repeat it,” he added.

But there’s another potential motivation that sounds straight out of “Moby Dick.”

Theory No. 2: The orcas want vengeance

Orcas off the Iberian Coast like to follow fishing vessels to snag bluefin tuna before fishermen can reel them in, putting the aquatic mammals at risk of being struck or entangled. Scientists have seen killer whales in those waters with fishing lines hanging from their bodies.

So it is possible, López Fernandez said, an orca had a bad run-in with a boat in the past, and is now teaching other killer whales how to attack vessels as well. The team suspects a female adult named White Gladis may be the one doing so.

López Fernandez emphasized we don’t have enough information to know the real reason behind the attacks yet. Even assuming the second theory is true, “we don’t know what that triggering stimulus could have been,” he said.

With only 39 orcas counted in 2011, the Iberian orca subpopulation is considered critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The impact that entanglements and boat strikes are having on all sorts of whales and dolphins around the world underscores that humans are a bigger threat to them than they are to us.

“All this has to make us reflect on the fact that human activities, even in an indirect way, are at the origin of this behavior,” López Fernandez said.

Yachting World

• Digital Edition

Why have Orcas been attacking yachts? A puzzling mystery

• Elaine Bunting
• March 2, 2023

Elaine Bunting looks into the so-called 'attacks' on yachts by groups of Orcas and tries to unravel why it has been consistently happening for the last few years

Late in November last year, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston’s Farr 65 pilothouse cutter, Sanjula , was being sailed 10 miles west of Cape Finisterre in Spain when it was surrounded by orca whales. The collisions began immediately.

“A pod of seven to 10 orcas surrounded Sanjula and then began to barge into its rudder. This eventually broke a steering connecting rod. The engine was switched off and the boat lay hove-to while the emergency steering was rigged,” he reported. “After 10 minutes the orcas moved away, no longer finding a hove-to yacht interesting – but that is only an assumption. The boat sailed to Vigo for repairs.”

The incident was the most high profile yet of what has amounted to hundreds of interactions, or attacks, by killer whales off the coasts of Spain and Portugal since they were first reported nearly three years ago.

The incident involving Sanjula happened just a few weeks after the loss of a French Oceanis 393 , Smousse , 14 miles west of Viana do Castelo. Orcas tore Smousse ’s rudder by mouthing and shaking it, cracking the hull in the process. The four crew were forced to abandon to a liferaft, and were picked up by another yacht.

Close encounters between orcas and yachts were extremely rare occurrences until something very strange happened – in July 2020 the behaviour of a small sub-population of orcas off the coasts of Atlantic Spain and Portugal suddenly changed. They began to barge yachts seemingly aggressively, often causing serious damage to the boats’ rudders.

A towed dinghy could become a target for orca play. Photo: Jon Wright

Reports mounted up as the behaviour kept being repeated, and these incidents spread north, marking the orcas migratory route north along the Iberian peninsula to Galicia, where they feed on bluefin tuna and nurse their young. Whether these were play behaviours or attacks wasn’t clear but it involved repeated ramming of boats, and those who experienced them were terrified.

Delivery skipper Pete Green was delivering an Amel 52 from Gibraltar to the UK in 2020 when the yacht’s rudder spun uncontrollably from side to side.

“We knew there was a risk of meeting some orca so we stayed close to the Spanish coast, but we didn’t see them coming,” says Green, managing director of Halcyon Yachts. “The wheel was just suddenly spinning from left to right as they collided into the rudder.”

The crew immediately turned off all the electrics, shut down the engine, furled the sails and lay ahull. All the advice they’d seen said to sit passively in the water until the whales grew bored.

The orcas circled the Amel slowly for nearly two hours, so close at times that the crew were able to photograph and video the animals. The whole time, the orcas were bumping into the hull, the keel and hitting the rudder. “It seemed like an age before they finally left us in peace,” said Green. By the time the whales were gone, the rudder had been badly damaged.

It was not the first time Green had been on a yacht picked on by orcas. A year earlier, while close to A Coruña on the north-west corner of Spain, the Hallberg-Rassy 36 he was delivering to the UK was “rammed at least 15 times”. The yacht lost steering and had to be towed into port.

These encounters have become an established hazard along this coast. According to reports received and collated by the Cruising Association in conjunction with Grupo Trabajo Orca Atlántica, there were 102 interactions with orcas between January 2022 and January 2023, the majority of them off Cape Finisterre, west of Sines in Portugal, and in the Strait of Gibraltar. See the interactive map, which includes witness reports, at theca.org.uk/orcas/reports

Orcas chewed off this lump of rudder. Photo: Martyn & Zoe Barlow

Some of these resulted in damage, mainly to the rudder, and in a small number of cases it was serious. Some crews say they felt these were aggressive attacks, others viewed it as merely playful. The intent to barge the vessel and try to alter its course was, however, not in doubt.

A rogue group

Dr Ruth Esteban, a marine mammal researcher who works for the Madeira Whale Museum, has spent years studying the abundance, life history and social structure of orcas in the Strait of Gibraltar. The group of whales in question is a small one, she believes, just five pods comprising 28 individuals. It’s an endangered sub-population she knows well and she was both fascinated and alarmed by this bizarre evolution.

Article continues below…

Orca attacks: Rudder losses and damage as incidents escalate

The first signs that something odd was taking place came in July 2020. After the strangest start to a summer…

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“The orcas were more than used to being surrounded by vessels, sometimes hundreds of vessels at a time, but were never as far as we knew touching the vessel,” she says. “Then when 2020 arrived, after the worldwide lockdown, [this] disruptive behaviour was observed. They were reported interacting with boats and entering into contact with them, particularly sailing boats, resulting mainly in breaking the moving parts of their rudders.”

Since the incidents began, Dr Esteban has collected and reviewed videos taken on board some of the yachts that had been targeted and damaged, meticulously identifying each animal where possible and reviewing the whales’ behaviour. They were mainly juveniles, but there was at least one adult involved, the mother of one of the younger animals.

She observed that they were purposely targeting boats and trying to push them around by pushing or biting the rudder. “We could see the animals come close to the boat at the stern. Sometimes they showed up with intense bubbling. They would approach and start by observing moving parts before touching and pushing to control the movement of the boat.”

The whales mainly targeted sailing yachts under 15m, although some fishing boats, RIBs and motorboats were also attacked. In one case, they broke a yacht’s rudder in half. In another, a yacht crew endured repeated collisions for over an hour as the orcas repeatedly struck their rudder, breaking it and bending the stainless steel shaft by almost 90°. “The cost to repair was almost €21,000,” says Dr Esteban.

Orcas can live in all oceans of the world and are the second most widely distributed mammal on earth. Photo: Mike Korostelev/Getty

A group of working biologists and conservationists from organisations such as the Whale Museum of Madeira, La Rochelle university and the Portuguese Sociedade de Vida Selvagem was formed to investigate this behaviour.

Grupo Trabajo Orca Atlántica ( orcaiberica.org ) collates information on orca attacks, plots where they occur and promotes the conservation and management of the whales. It also offers advice aimed at mitigating damage to yachts or the animals themselves, the so-called orca protocol.

The behaviour, sporadic at first, has become an established set piece for the whales, and it has evolved. It has been going on now for three years, and there is no sign of this behaviour fading. It has become a natural behaviour for this population, and there is no evidence at all that they themselves are acting aggressively.

What can crews do?

If possible, avoid the areas of recent activity. The Spanish authorities set out two exclusion zones last year for vessels under 15m near A Coruña and on the approaches to Gibraltar on a stretch from Bolonia near Tarifa, to Cape Trafalgar. GT Orca Atlántica publishes a map on its website of current orca activity, valid for 24 hours, with the risk expressed in the form of traffic lights. This is based on the latest reports from boat crews and rescue services.

If targeted, GT Orca Atlántica advises stopping your yacht to make your vessel look unexciting and try to quell the whales’ prey drive. They suggest taking your hands off the wheel or disengaging the autopilot to allow the rudder to turn freely and advise crew not to shout at the animals, throw anything at them, ‘and do not let yourselves be seen excessively from overboard’.

Orcas circle a Sun Odyssey 40. Photo: Martyn & Zoe Barlow

But when faced with a pod of orcas and the prospect of hull or rudder damage, some crews have tried to scare them off. “We decided to go against protocol and bang metal tools against our metal railings and stanchions,” says a skipper who encountered the animals last summer.

“That seemed to deter them for about 10 minutes, then they returned. They carried on trying to get as close as possible to the stern again, so we started to play loud music on a portable speaker, banged pots and pans, and waved black and white striped towels off the stern. After a few minutes they left us alone, but the daylight was also dying by then and we can’t figure out if our deterrents worked or if they got bored.”

Some crews have kept bottles of diesel within reach in the cockpit just in case, ready to pour down the cockpit drains in case they are approached by orcas. The theory is that the orcas will be repelled by the mixture emerging underwater from the yacht.

Other crews have tried pouring sand into the water. Some even less humane methods have also been reported, such as crews letting off firecrackers or firing live rounds into the water. These do seem risky, and – aside from the issues of harming a protected marine species – no one can say whether any of these deterrents work.

A bubble curtain created by orcas circling beneath the surface

Three years on from the first reports of this animal behaviour, orca encounters off the Spanish and Portuguese coasts have become an accepted hazard. According to reports collected by GT Orca Atlántica, there were 239 cases of interactions with orcas between 2020 and 2021.

Social media and press reports have hugely amplified the issue. Considering the overall numbers of yachts on passage through these waters, thousands each summer, the percentage of boats affected is still small.

However, it seems unlikely this behaviour will extinct itself – its repetition proves the orcas find it self-rewarding. Are the orcas merely playing? Are they practising hunting behaviours? Are they reacting to stress or changes in food sources? Have pollutants affected them cognitively?

All these theories have been put forward, but no one knows. “Everyone is puzzled,” says Dr Esteban. “We don’t know what is going on and we do not know why they’re doing this. There have been a lot of hypotheses but none of them is based on clear evidence.”

From a yachtsman’s point of view, the reasons really don’t matter. The orcas’ behaviour has evolved, and will presumably continue until it serves no purpose. In the meantime, reported encounters will allow researchers to build up a more detailed picture of the areas of activity, types of boats targeted and successful deterrents, if any. Until then, many cruisers believe the only thing to do is to coast-hop Spain and Portugal while monitoring areas where the orca pods are reported to be hunting.

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Whales Have Attacked Plenty of Boats Before. This Time Is Different.

White gladis and her crew are coming for your yachts..

Over the weekend, the internet found a new hero: anti-capitalist, direct-action-taking killer whales. Following the publication of a LiveScience article reporting that killer whales, or orcas, around the Iberian Peninsula had started sinking boats and appeared to be “teaching others to do the same,” social media—Twitter in particular—ran with the story.

The popular satirical “WhaleFact” account tweeted : “Humans have fucked around long enough, it is now time to find out.” Tweets picked up on the suggestion that whales targeted yachts and other luxury vessels, hoping the rogue whales might seek out billionaire Amazon owner Jeff Bezos next. Users referenced “ direct action ,” “ solidarity with orca saboteurs ,” and “ grassroots organizing ”—and penned some (terrible) puns, à la orca-strating and orca-nizing . References to “ anti-colonial struggle ” and Land Back —“ ocean back ”—also appeared. Both an Amazon labor organizer and a New York Times columnist described the whales as “comrades.” Memes and jokes abounded; one user adapted the lyrics of the song “Bitch” to read: “I’m a bitch/ I’m an Orca/ Sinking boats/ Just off Majorca.” The Merriam-Webster Dictionary’s Twitter account, never one to miss out on a moment, got involved, posting that MW’s definition of orca did “not yet” include “BOAT DESTROYER,” but that they “welcome our new Delphinidae Overlords.”

Although the yacht-sinking whales inspired a fun and raucous moment, that moment was also bittersweet. Scientists quoted in the LiveScience coverage hypothesize that a “critical moment of agony” (perhaps a collision or entanglement) traumatized matriarch White Gladis and led her to start attacking similar vessels—and others to follow suit. Whether the behavior is spreading through imitation or intentional teaching, its adoption resonates with existing knowledge about orcas: They are intelligent creatures who learn, adapt, and may even mourn ; they can go through cultural fads (including a rather charming one in which one whale prompted others to start wearing salmon hats ); and they live in tight-knit matriarchal social structures.

Reports of orcas attacking yachts and other vessels are not new, even in recent times; similar stories popped up in the news in 2022 and 2020 . These “attacks” on boats also have a longer history across whale and dolphin species, not just orcas. A classic example is, of course, the events of Herman Melville’s novel Moby-Dick, and of the wreck of the whaleship Essex, which partly inspired Melville. But what immediately came to mind for me, as the internet fell in love with White Gladis and her crew, was another whale: the gray whale. Killer and gray whales are typically pitted against each other as foes because the former preys on the latter. Yet gray whales themselves have a history of being taken for sea monsters, similar to the killer whale’s. Gray whales are infamous as “devil-fish”—a nickname they acquired for their unusually ferocious responses to mid-19 th -century Yankee whalers’ attacks in the Mexican lagoons where they gave birth. These “devil-fish” rammed boats, injured whalers, and inspired fear among whaling crews. As the story goes, mid-20 th -century protections allowed the “devil-fish” to become the “friendly whale” by the 1970s—a gentle giant that approaches small boats and allows people to touch it. In other words, the idea has been that humans changed their behaviors (from destruction to care), and whales responded accordingly.

In my own work as an environmental historian, I found that this “ devil-fish to friendly whale ” arc doesn’t quite hold up to historical scrutiny. Instead, friendly whales appeared prior to this apparent transition—and often at the same time as devil-fishes. Like the contemporary orcas, past gray whales who struck boats could spark a wide array of human stories—from tales of vengeful monsters to tragedies or pitiful accidents. Some of the stories people have told about these incidents that I’ve encountered in the course of my research border on absurd: An 1899 report of “sociable” whales that approached yachts said they mistook the yachts for potential mates. Another from the same era told of a gray whale who followed a commercial vessel for miles on end, and who purportedly interpreted the ship’s crew spraying it with bullets as “love taps.”

Across a wide range of time periods and geographies, various whale species have altered their behaviors in relation to changing human activities. For example, a recent, widely covered study suggests that sperm whales in the 19 th -century North Pacific shared information about Yankee whaling among themselves, changing their behaviors to avoid those whalers. According to environmental historian Bathsheba Demuth, bowhead whales in the Bering Sea, which were initially more docile than other whales, began to avoid Yankee whalers in the mid-19 th century; a sea shanty from around that time claimed “the devil has got into bowhead whales.” (But even as the whales got away from those whalers and disappeared into labyrinthine ice, Indigenous hunters across the Bering Strait continued successfully hunting bowheads.)

Other examples from the historical record include shifts among right whales in response to commercial whaling in the early 19 th -century South Pacific, the influences of whalers and bowhead whales on each other during an era of climate change in the 17 th -century Atlantic Arctic, and stories about contemporary narwhals evading satellite surveillance. These examples show how whales are not static objects affected by human history, but rather active participants who change alongside shifts in political, social, and cultural conditions.

Whales change their behaviors in relationship with humans’ social changes, and alongside these shifts come shifts in human perception and interpretation of those behaviors and changes. Often, when people describe changing human attitudes toward whales, they tell a black-and-white story: Either people save, watch, and respect the whales, or we eat, kill, and fear them. The story has a historical trajectory: We used to exploit and fear whales, and now we respect them as intelligent, social beings. Respecting whales becomes mutually exclusive with fearing whales; eating whales becomes mutually exclusive with loving whales. This is the version of events that emerged during the Save the Whales movement in the 1970s, and in the context of the broader mainstream Western environmental movement, and it’s the version that continues to permeate public discussions of whales today. From the transformation of the blackfish into Shamu to the devil-fish’s evolution into the friendly whale, you can find this story everywhere.

But many environmentalists, like me, have come to feel like this way of thinking about interactions between humanity and nature is limited and unproductive. Remember the “We Are the Virus” meme that emerged early in the COVID-19 pandemic, in which a universalized and homogenized humanity was represented as a virus destroying all other life on earth? In “our” absence, nature was said to be healing —as demonstrated, in the first instance, by reports of dolphins returning to the canals of Venice. The later memeification of this idea interestingly, and accurately, critiqued its absurdity, misanthropy, and inaccuracy. We Are the Virus environmentalism—the sincere kind—is an outgrowth of a type of thought that sees humans as always separate from, and dangerous to, an external Nature. If you think that, you may also tend to view the future in similar either/or ways—either we are doomed to destroy the rest of the planet and ourselves along with it, or we will successfully achieve a level of technological prowess that allows us to manage planetary change effectively.

This boat-attacking-whale-comrades moment feels different—and exciting. Part of what makes these boat-sinking whales into anti-capitalist allies is their choice of targets. Much of the coverage and response focuses on the whales’ attacking yachts in a popular European vacationing location. These yachts symbolize excesses of wealth under capitalism. This story simply wouldn’t have the same appeal or political resonance if the whales weren’t targeting symbols of wealth, waste, and opulence.

The unique combination here, then, is that this orca attack moment embraces a less universalizing environmentalist perspective. Although there certainly is some bemoaning of “humans” deserving the whales’ attacks as their due comeuppance, what I find exciting about these responses is how many of them don’t fall into the “We Are the Virus” trap. Many of the responses connect the plight of killer whales to social, cultural, and political issues of inequality, land rights, labor rights, capitalism, imperialism, and uneven and exploitative development. Yes, some of this is in jest—but the jokes, I would argue, aren’t entirely joking.

Animals are doing weird and funny stuff as our shared planet changes rapidly. From whales showing up halfway across the world from where they should be, to what anthropologist Nayanika Mathur calls “ crooked cats ”—tigers, lions, and leopards which defy standard expectations of their species by preying on humans and our companion and livestock species—transforming to become more devilish in response to joint pressures of capitalism and climate change, we should expect the unexpected about nonhuman life. This moment of celebration offers a window into what it might look like to move out of the idea that whales can be either dangerous monsters or priceless objects worthy of protection. Maybe joining the orca war can be an act of radical solidarity with both other people and other beings—if we orca-nize carefully.

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Scientists baffled by orcas ramming sailing boats near Spain and Portugal

From the Strait of Gibraltar to Galicia, orcas have been harassing yachts, damaging vessels and injuring crew

Full story: ‘I’ve never seen or heard of attacks’ – scientists baffled by orcas harassing boats

Scientists have been left baffled by incidents of orcas ramming sailing boats along the Spanish and Portuguese coasts.

In the last two months, from southern to northern Spain , sailors have sent distress calls after worrying encounters. Two boats lost part of their rudders, at least one crew member suffered bruising from the impact of the ramming, and several boats sustained serious damage.

The latest incident occurred on Friday afternoon just off A Coruña, on the northern coast of Spain. Halcyon Yachts was taking a 36ft boat to the UK when an orca rammed its stern at least 15 times, according to Pete Green, the company’s managing director. The boat lost steering and was towed into port to assess damage.

Around the same time there were radio warnings of orca sightings 70 miles south, at Vigo, near the site of at least two recent collisions. On 30 August, a French-flagged vessel radioed the coastguard to say it was “under attack” from killer whales. Later that day, a Spanish naval yacht, Mirfak , lost part of its rudder after an encounter with orcas under the stern.

Highly intelligent social mammals, orcas are the largest of the dolphin family. Researchers who study a small population in the Strait of Gibraltar say they are curious and it is normal for them to follow a boat closely, even to interact with the rudder, but never with the force suggested here.

The Spanish maritime authorities warned vessels to “keep a distance”. But reports from sailors around the strait throughout July and August suggest this may be difficult – at least one pod appears to be pursuing boats in behaviour that scientists agree is “highly unusual” and “concerning”. It is too early to understand what is going on, but it might indicate stress in a population that is endangered.

On 29 July, off Cape Trafalgar, Victoria Morris was crewing a 46ft delivery boat that was surrounded by nine orcas. The cetaceans rammed the hull for over an hour, spinning the boat 180 degrees, disabling the engine and breaking the rudder, as they communicated with loud whistling.

It felt, she said, “totally orchestrated”. Earlier that week, another boat in the area reported a 50-minute encounter; the skipper said the force of the ramming “nearly dislocated the helmsman’s shoulder”.

At 11.30 the previous night, British couple Beverly Harris and Kevin Large’s 40ft yacht was brought to a sudden halt, then spun several times; Harris felt the boat “raise a little”.

Earlier that evening, Nick Giles was motorsailing alone when he heard a horrific bang “like a sledgehammer”, saw his wheel “turning with incredible force”, disabling the steering as his 34ft Moody yacht spun 180 degrees. He felt the boat lift and said he was pushed around without steering for 15 minutes.

It is not known if all the encounters involve the same pod but it is probable. Dr Ruth Esteban, who has studied the Gibraltar orcas extensively, thinks it unlikely two groups would display such unusual behaviour.

Alfredo López, a biologist from the Coordinator for the Study of Marine Mammals in Galicia, said orcas made their way up the coast each September from the Gulf of Cadiz to chase tuna into the Bay of Biscay.

Morris’s sailing job was abandoned after the boat was lifted for repair, and she was diverted to another delivery. She is currently sailing down the Spanish coast and in the early hours of Friday a VHF radio warning came in. “All ships, all ships,” it began. “Orca just north of Vigo” – five miles from her location.

After her last experience, Morris is a little jumpy, but, as a science graduate with plans to study marine biology, she is concerned for this vulnerable population of orcas and interested to learn more. She’d just prefer not to get too close a view next time.

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More on this story

Previous incident may have led Orcas to target boats, say experts

'They were having a real go': man tells of orca encounter off Spain

Spain bans yachts from stretch of sea after orcas damage boats

'I've never seen or heard of attacks': scientists baffled by orcas harassing boats

Boats off Spain damaged in orca encounters

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Sperm whales drop 'bubble of poo' off WA to prevent orca attack in rarely recorded encounter

Sperm whales off Western Australia's southern coast have successfully defended themselves from an attack by a pod of orca by defecating at will, creating a "cloud of diarrhoea".

The rare defence mechanism thwarted the likely fatal attack at the Bremer Canyon — a marine life hotspot about 50 kilometres off the coast between Albany and Hopetoun — on Tuesday.

An orca pod attempted to hunt the pod of giant sperm whales until the latter unleashed its unique defence.

Marine biologist Jennah Tucker, who works on board Naturaliste Charters tour boat, witnessed the incident.

Defensive defecation saves ocean giants

Ms Tucker said sperm whales had developed the intriguing and effective defence strategy over many years.

"It's called defensive defecation," she said.

The sperm whales defecate and swish their tails around through it to fend off or confuse predators.

"And because sperm whale's diet consists mostly of squid, they actually have this really reddish coloured poo," she said.

"And it seems like it actually did work in this case".

High seas battle between orca, whales

In this case, the sperm whales tightly huddled in a circular formation, heads to the centre and fanning their tails out.

"This is called a rosette, another defensive mechanism they use when they're under attack," she said.

Ms Tucker said the sperm whales were really distressed and exhausted.

"They were sort of poking their heads out of the water and letting out these huge heaving breaths," she said.

'Solemn mood'

Then a massive dark bubble rose to the surface. It was initially thought to be a blood bubble from an attack.

"And everything kind of went quiet and there was very solemn sort of mood on the deck of the boat because we thought they'd potentially taken out a calf, as one of the sperm whales did look significantly smaller than the others," Ms Tucker said.

"But then the killer whales all just moved off really suddenly".

It was not until the scientists on board reviewed the footage they realised it was faeces released by the sperm whales.

"We realised that the big dark bubble we'd seen and assumed might have been blood was actually poo," Ms Tucker said.

Ms Tucker said the emergency evacuation saved the creature's lives.

"It was like the orcas said, no, not worth our time, everyone move out," she said.

Orca attacks on sperm whales rare

It is rare for orcas to try to take down sperm whales, with only a few documented cases around the world.

"Sperm whales are considered an apex predator, and historically, it was thought that they were pretty much immune to killer whale attacks," Ms Tucker said.

"But there have been a few accounts now of successful predations on sperm whales, but it is extremely rare globally and historically

"It's actually pretty adventurous for orcas to try to take on sperm whales. They're punching above their weight."

Tourists and scientists flock to the area to witness orcas, often in pods of more than 50, hunt animals including a first ever recorded blue whale attack.

"We have seen the Bremer orcas do some pretty crazy things; they don't shy away from too much, "Ms Tucker said.

This attempt comes as observers in Bremer Bay report they have witnessed the most orca predations for this March than any other March— six in the past two weeks, nine for the month.

The first blue whale of the season was also spotted on Wednesday.

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New Orca Defenses Are in Development

Acoustic devices could give humans the upper hand in the orca vs. yacht battle..

New strategies to save boats from the orca uprising are in the works. Portuguese officials plan to test devices that could deter so-called killer whales from taking down ships with sound, according to a report from Lusa News Agency, Portugal’s largest news outlet. Trial runs of the tech could begin over the next few months or even sooner.

“Some lines of development of acoustic deterrents are being developed that will be tested this summer, in order to try to find options for protecting sailboats and minimize the number of [orca] interactions,” António Bessa de Carvalho, president of Portugal’s Associação Nacional de Cruzeiros (National Association of Cruise Ships), told Lusa.

The ANC is a public entity that promotes sport and recreational sailing in the country. The agency has reportedly been coordinating and meeting with the Portuguese Navy and Portugal’s national conservation institute to try to figure out a solution for the ongoing (and widely publicized) conflict between Iberian orcas and small to mid-sized sailboats.

The black and white marine mammals (which are technically the largest species of dolphin) have been damaging and sinking boats off of the Iberian coast since 2020. The odd behavior, which appears to be intentional, often involves orcas nudging and ramming sailboats or yachts, and tearing off boat rudders. So far, killer whales have totally wrecked three boats in the waters near Spain and Portugal in recent years.

In one of the latest incidents, a group of three of the cetaceans sent a Swiss yacht, the Alboran Champagne , to a watery grave last month. All four people aboard were safely rescued. In fact, humans have remained unharmed in all of the hundreds of recorded incidents since 2020, wherein orcas have attempted to willfully damage boats. Really, the whales’ focus seems to be squarely on the rudders, though why is still a mystery.

Scientists have been investigating possible causes for the orcas’ behavior, and have yet to uncover anything definitive. A specific whale, named White Gladis, is believed to be behind many of the “attacks,” and to have passed the boat-bashing behavior onto others.

One hypothesis for why the whales are targeting sailboats is that they’re seeking “revenge” for a past boat-inflicted injury . Though, as wild as this idea is, supporting evidence for it is scant. Other theories include that the whales are playing around—tearing off boat rudders for fun, are annoyed by the boats’ presence, or are simply engaging in a “fad” behavior. Like humans, orcas have been known to adopt seemingly illogical habits because others around them are doing it—some biologists refer to this as culture. In one specific cultural display, Puget Sound orcas started carrying around dead salmon on their heads (like weird, smelly hats) in 1987. The fish fad began with a single female whale in a group named K-Pod and spread to two other pods over the course of 5-6 weeks. After a couple of months, the behavior died down, according to a 2004 published, scientific account .

Maybe the yacht-yeeting behavior will soon simmer down too, but until and unless that happens, humans are searching for a way to keep their boats safe. Enter: acoustic deterrents. Portugal’s recently announced plan isn’t the first time that sound has been deployed to repel marine life.

Personal anti-shark acoustic devices, marketed as a way to reduce the risk of shark attacks, have been around for years . Funnily enough, these gadgets mimic orca calls, as killer whales are a natural predator of the many-fanged fish. Fishing boats also often use high-pitched sound emitters to keep dolphins away from their haul and potentially dangerous nets. Suggestions to use such “pingers” to dissuade orca yacht attacks date back to at least 2022 . In some instances, federal fisheries scientists have even resorted to banging pipes and firing off underwater firecrackers to scare orcas away from oil slicks during environmental disasters.

It’s unclear what specific devices or sounds Portuguese officials intend to use, if they have developed a new gadget, or plan to deploy existing tech. Will the yacht-rocking orcas be subjected to yacht rock? Gizmodo reached out to the ANC with questions about the acoustic proposal, and orca safety. The agency did not immediately respond, but this article will be updated with more information if they do.

Though the orca revolution is fun to post about on the internet, orcas—not billionaires—are probably most at risk if the boat bashing continues. The cetaceans already face numerous human-caused threats like climate change, pollution, and overfishing. Obviously, as a species, people are capable of doing more harm to killer whales than they can do to us. If the orca’s new ship -sinking hobby keeps up , researchers have expressed concern that humans may go on the offensive.

Despite the known harms of marine noise pollution , annoying sounds are probably one of the most humane methods boaters could use to keep their vessels and orcas safe.

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Rogue orcas are thriving on the high seas—and they’re eating big whales

A fourth type of Pacific killer whale may live miles offshore from California and Oregon, preying on whales, other dolphins, and sea turtles.

Most orcas tend to stick to coastlines, from the Antarctic dwellers that make waves to knock seals off ice floes to the liver-extracting brothers around Cape Town . But now, scientists have found what could be a brand-new population of killer whales: Animals that ply the high seas, hunting large whales and other sizable prey.

These open-ocean denizens have been spotted at numerous locations far from Oregon and California, many of them well beyond the continental shelf, where waters can reach depths of 15,000 feet,   according to a recent study in Aquatic Mammals .

“There haven’t been any real studies, at least in the North Pacific, looking at killer whales in the open ocean,” says study leader Josh McInnes , a master’s candidate at the University of British Columbia’s Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries.  

“It was kind of a shock when … we saw animals that were out in this open ocean habitat and were completely different from the other ecotypes we know.”

Killer whales in the Pacific are grouped into three ecotypes: Residents, which live close to shore and eat salmon and other fish; offshores, which live farther out and also eat fish; and transients, also called Bigg’s, the only orcas previously known to eat mammals.   (See 13 fantastic photos of orcas.)

Scientists could not match the 49 whales in the new study with any known orcas through photos and descriptions, which are based on their unique dorsal fins and saddle patches, the gray or white pattern on an orca's back.  

This means the animals are either a subgroup of the transient ecotype or an entirely unique population, says McInnes, who is also a research associate with the Pacific Wildlife Foundation.

The team could also differentiate the population, dubbed the oceanics, from other known orcas due to scars or bite marks from the parasitic cookie-cutter shark, which only occur in the deep ocean.

Beyond individual variations, the oceanics don't look like other known ecotypes, for example sporting a large gray saddle patch or no saddle patch at all.

“The open ocean doesn’t support a lot of large predators; it’s often described as a giant desert, so we weren’t expecting to find so many different animals, so we’re excited to carry on more research,” McInnes says.

“We really just don't know yet what is happening with the killer whales in the open ocean. This is the mystery behind what we hope to do next.”  

Following the prey

Our knowledge of orcas living in the open ocean is limited, as it’s difficult to find the widely distributed animals in a boat.

Yet the recent paper, a mixture of literature review and new observations, discovered nine instances in which marine mammal researchers, fishermen, and tourists observed whales in the northern Pacific Ocean between 1997 and 2021.

In the first documented incident, researchers watched a large pod of killer whales attack a herd of nine adult female sperm whales, managing to separate one from the pack and kill it. Other pods also hunted and ate an elephant seal, a pygmy sperm whale, a Risso’s dolphin, and a leatherback sea turtle.

With detailed records from each such encounter, the researchers plotted geo-referenced locations, determined water depth, and compared photos in databases to determine that the 49 whales sighted could potentially be a new ecotype.  

It’s possible that this new population formed as prey drew them farther from shore.

“Mammal-eating killer whales are doing well, and their numbers are increasing as seal and other whale populations have rebounded since whaling and sealing became illegal,” says Robert Pitman , a marine ecologist at Oregon State University’s Marine Mammal Institute, who wasn’t involved in the study.

While prey overall is less abundant in deep-sea waters, killer whales may still find that habitat is more appealing than competing with the larger populations of resident whales closer to shore, he says.   (Watch video: sperm whales vs. orcas.)

To this end, McInnes and colleagues hope this study will spark efforts to document the new whale population through genetic sampling, satellite tagging, acoustic tracking, further photo identification, and additional field observation.

Climate change is affecting some populations of killer whales , such as those in Antarctica, which depend on seals that live on the rapidly decreasing ice. On the U.S. West Coast, a decline in salmon has reduced a population off Puget Sound , Washington.

Worldwide, however, the species is thriving, and coming more into contact with people in coastal areas. Orcas ramming and even sinking boats off Spain made headlines in 2023, with some people rooting for the animals as fighting back against human domination .

“Killer whales are probably the most widely distributed vertebrate on the planet. They are everywhere,” Pitman says.

With many tourist cruises available worldwide, he encourages everyone to put seeing a killer whale, whose males can reach lengths of 27 feet, on their bucket list.  

“This is the biggest apex predator we have on the planet today. We haven't seen anything like it since dinosaurs roamed the Earth.”  

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• ANIMAL ATTACKS
• SPERM WHALE

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Sperm whales drop giant poop bombs to save themselves from orca attack

A pod of sperm whales flung their poop at unsuspecting orcas to avoid a fatal attack.

Sperm whales blasted a "big dark bubble" of poop to prevent an impending orca attack off the southern coast of Western Australia.

Scientists witnessed the clever defense strategy unfold Tuesday (March 19) during a tourist excursion in Bremer Canyon, a whale-watching hotspot off the coast between Albany and Hopetoun. They described seeing a "cloud of diarrhea" permeate the water, and this rarely seen defense mechanism seemed to help the sperm whale pod escape what could have been a fatal attack by at least 30 killer whales, ABC News Australia reported. 

"It's called defense defecation," Jennah Tucker , a marine biologist with Oceans Blueprint, a marine and environmental sciences research organization, who was on the charter boat, told ABC. When the animals defecate, she said, they pass their huge tails through their poop to drive away or confuse attackers.

As the event unfolded, onlookers noticed a large, "dark bubble" pop up to the water's surface. At first, they thought it was blood from one of the sperm whales, potentially a small calf. But when the team later reviewed footage of the plume, they realized it was actually whale poop.

"Because [a] sperm whale's diet consists mostly of squid , they actually have this really reddish colored poo," she said.

Related: Why some whales go through menopause

In this demonstration of defense defecation, the pod formed a circle with their heads together, and the whales fanned their tails in unison — forcing their excrement toward the unsuspecting orcas .

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"This is called a rosette, another defensive mechanism they use when they're under attack," Tucker said.

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Tucker told ABC she noticed that the sperm whales looked distressed and exhausted. However, their fecal warfare worked, and the orcas swam off in search of fresher waters. It was in the midst of this mayhem that researchers saw the big, blobby poop bubble rise to the water's surface.

There have been only a few documented instances of orca attacks on sperm whales, largely due to the sheer size differential between the two species.

"Sperm whales are considered an apex predator, and historically, it was thought that they were pretty much immune to killer whale attacks," Tucker said. "It's actually pretty adventurous for orcas to try to take on sperm whales. They're punching above their weight."

Jennifer Nalewicki is a Salt Lake City-based journalist whose work has been featured in The New York Times, Smithsonian Magazine, Scientific American, Popular Mechanics and more. She covers several science topics from planet Earth to paleontology and archaeology to health and culture. Prior to freelancing, Jennifer held an Editor role at Time Inc. Jennifer has a bachelor's degree in Journalism from The University of Texas at Austin.

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Maryland bridge collapse: Rescue underway after Francis Scott Key bridge is hit by cargo ship

BALTIMORE — A major bridge collapsed in Baltimore on Tuesday morning after it was hit by a container ship, sending several vehicles plunging into the water below, prompting an intense search for survivors and throwing the future of a key shipping port into question.

An unknown number of workers were on the bridge at the time of the crash, and emergency responders said they were looking for at least seven people who were missing. Two people were rescued from the water after the ship hit a pillar supporting part of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which carries Interstate 695 over the Patapsco River, southeast of the Baltimore metropolitan area.

One person rescued from the water was in good condition and refused treatment. The other was seriously injured and was being treated in a trauma center, Baltimore Fire Chief James Wallace said in a news conference at the scene.

Follow live updates here

Underwater drones, as well as sonar and infrared surveillance tools, had confirmed there were several cars in the river, Wallace said.

“We are still very much in an active search-and-rescue posture at this point,” Wallace said. Rescuers would search the surface of the water, in the river and on the deck of the ship, he said.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said he had declared a state of emergency following the bridge collapse and was working to deploy federal resources.

The incident was captured in dramatic video, which showed smoke billowing from the boat, as the bridge and the road it held tumbled into the river. A livestream showed cars and trucks on the bridge just before the collision. The boat did not sink and its lights remained on.

At a later news conference, Maryland Department of Transportation Secretary Paul Wiedefeld said that an unknown number of workers were on the bridge repairing concrete ducts when the ship crashed into the structure.

He also said that the FBI was on the scene to determine whether there was any terrorist motive to the incident, but had concluded there was none.

'My house shook'

The U.S. Coast Guard told NBC News that it received a report at 1:27 a.m. ET that a “motor vessel made impact with the bridge” and confirmed it was a 948-foot vessel named the Dali, a container ship sailing under a Singaporean flag.

Bobby Haines, who lives in Dundalk in Baltimore County, said he felt the impact of the bridge collapse from his house nearby.

"I woke up at 1:30 this morning and my house shook and I was freaking out," he said. "I thought it was an earthquake and to find out it was a bridge is really, really scary."

At the time of the crash, contractors were doing concrete repair on the bridge, Wiedefeld told reporters.

A representative from Brawner Builders Inc. said that the company had a construction crew on the bridge when it collapsed. 

The representative declined to provide additional details, including how many employees were working at the time or are still missing.

Shipping giant Maersk confirmed in a statement that the Dali ship, operated and managed by a company called Synergy Group, was charted to transport its customers’ cargo.

Synergy said in a statement that it had "collided with one of the pillars of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, Baltimore whilst under pilotage with two pilots onboard."

The company said all 22 crew members onboard at the time of the crash were accounted for and there were no injuries or any oil pollution.

It added that the exact cause of the incident was yet to be determined, and that the owners and managers were fully cooperating with government agencies.

Grace Ocean Private Ltd., the Singapore-based registered owner of the ship, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News.

The National Transportation Safety Board said it was still gathering information on the incident and would be sending a team to the site.

Families of bridge workers wait for updates

The White House said senior administration officials were in touch with the governor and mayor to offer federal assistance.

"Our hearts go out to the families of those who remain missing as a result of this horrific incident," the official said.

Baltimore Mayor Brandon M. Scott said at a news conference: "We have to first and foremost pray for all of those who are impacted, those families, and pray for our first responders and thank them, all of them, [for] working together — city, state, local — to make sure that we are working through this tragedy."

A group of people who said they were family members of workers employed by Brawner Builders Inc. gathered at a Royal Farms convenience store near the entrance of the bridge.

They said their loved ones were working on the bridge at the time. One woman told NBC News that her father-in-law, Miguel Luna, was among the workers.

They went to the store because it was the closest they could get to the bridge, but were yet to get any formal guidance as to the status of their loved ones, they said.

'A long road in front of us'

Built in 1977 and referred to locally as the Key Bridge, the structure was later named after the author of the American national anthem.

The bridge is more than 8,500 feet, or 1.2 miles, long in total. Its main section spans 1,200 feet and was one of the longest continuous truss bridges in the world upon its completion, according to the National Steel Bridge Alliance .

About 31,000 vehicles a day use the bridge, which equals 11.3 million vehicles per year, according to the Maryland Transportation Authority.

The river and the Port of Baltimore are both key to the shipping industry on the East Coast, generating more than $3.3 billion a year and directly employing more than 15,000 people.

Asked what people in Baltimore can expect going forward, the state's transportation secretary said it is too early to tell.

"Obviously we reached out to a number of engineering companies so obviously we have a long road in front of us," Wiedefeld said.

Julia Jester reported from Baltimore and Patrick Smith from London.

Julia Jester is a producer for NBC News based in Washington, D.C.

Patrick Smith is a London-based editor and reporter for NBC News Digital.