Science

Why are orcas attacking boats? Hint: It’s not a war on humans.

David Neiwert
5–7 minutes

Have orcas declared war on humans? It would be easy to get that impression if you’ve been consuming the recent sensational coverage about the killer whales attacking and even sinking boats near the Strait of Gibraltar.

Since 2020, there have been hundreds of incidents involving vessel contact. Last week, a video circulated showing an orca ripping off a rudder of a boat, and in the past year alone, the animals managed to sink three vessels. Tabloid coverage of the incidents has suggested that the attacks have been led by a female known as White Gladis that was once traumatized by a boat and is now training juveniles to attack unsuspecting boaters.

But while observers may get a vicarious thrill from this narrative — which is little more than a real-life version of Dino De Laurentiis’s cheesy 1977 thriller, “Orca” — the “nature fighting back” narrative simply isn’t grounded in science and might encourage retaliation by humans. Instead, experts say this is typical “fad” behavior that probably could be resolved by simply staying away from the orcas.

It’s clear these orcas are not out to kill humans. They’ve exhibited no interest in the people aboard the vessels and have departed the scenes once the boats have come to a halt. Almost all the attacks have included damage to rudders and hulls, and the participants — about nine orcas out of a population of 40 to 50 — have been juveniles accompanied by adults who don’t partake in the behaviors.

Scientists who study orca behavior consider today’s fearmongering to be a classic case of projecting human psychology on to these complex and intelligent creatures’ actions. In reality, there is no record of a person being seriously injured, let alone eaten, by these animals — even though they could do so with ease.

Instead, scientists point to orcas’ documented propensity to adopt brief-lived behavioral “fads,” such as the weeks in 1987 when killer whales in the Pacific Northwest paraded about with dead salmon draped across their heads. Such fads have no clear benefit to the population — they usually are anomalistic in nature — and thus are one of many indicators that killer whales participate in complex cultures humans are unlikely to fully understand.

Orca scientists say these fads are uniformly observed among juveniles and adolescents, making them analogous to aggressive and reckless behavior in human teenagers. Some describe the Iberian orcas attacking boats as “hoodlums” and believe the behavior is meant for young orcas to demonstrate membership in their group as well as a kind of prowess. They also believe that, as with humans, the orca fads fade as the whales mature, though they can last anywhere from two weeks to two years.

Deborah Giles, research director for the nonprofit conservation organization Wild Orca, has witnessed such fads before. For example, orcas in British Columbia in recent years started to attack crab pots, lifting and moving their anchors for no clear reason. She has also witnessed young male orcas latching onto the dorsal fins of larger males to hitch rides with them, which she said is similar to what they are doing with Gibraltar sailboats.

Naomi Rose, a whale scientist with the Animal Welfare Institute, said it’s possible the recent orca attacks were predicated by an initial interaction with a boat that injured one of the orcas near Gibraltar. But even if that were the case, it’s almost certainly not what’s motivating them now. “I think it’s something that excites and entertains them,” Rose said.

Rose said she believes a three-year moratorium on sailing in the Gibraltar corridor (motorboats do not appear to be targets) could solve the problem: “If you were to get those boats out of there for three years, I would bet that you would no longer see the attacks when they returned.”

She’s doubtful this moratorium would happen, but if the situation escalates and armed boat captains begin to retaliate, government officials in Spain and Portugal might have no choice but to take drastic measures. European sailors who ply the waters around Gibraltar have already suggested taking lethal action against the whales and have told reporters they plan to carry guns.

Government action to protect the orcas would be warranted. For centuries, the demonization of these powerful apex predators has ended in the same way: with the demise of wild orcas. It would be an outrage if humans pushed the endangered population near Gibraltar further to the brink of extinction simply because they failed to exercise restraint in response to a fad that is likely to cease on its own.

The reality is that these animals are not out for revenge, nor are they reacting to human depredations. They’re just orcas being orcas. That’s neither a harbinger for future conflict with the whales nor justification for their annihilation.