Killer whales launch ‘orchestrated’ attacks on sailing boats

Does anyone know how bothered orcas are with ship noise?

One theory / speculation brought up (on reddit I think) was that during the lockdown there was a significant reduction in boat traffic and noise. So now that these remaining dwindling orca pods have had a break and the first time with relatively low noise they are getting pissed that it's starting up again. I have no clue if this is reasonable. But the timing might be significant.

Might just be they were just playing, some teenage ruffian orca pod.

 

Vandalism happens a lot among humans, maybe also among Orcas, maybe just for fun . . ?

 

My guess is it's like a marine version of mailbox baseball.

-Will (Dragonfly)

 

Maybe such a thing happened at the seaside and Orcas saw it and took inspiration . .

(from Stand by Me - 1986 - Kiefer Sutherland ↓)

 

Could be but:
1) proper vandals wouldn’t bust their heads doing it
2) they would much prefer nipping swimmers instead for real fun

 

Seemingly not a big Orca, but appearances can deceive. I read of a transponder that had been attached by researchers to a White Pointer shark, around the 12 feet mark, the transponder was eventually washed up, minus the shark. Information downloaded, indicated "something" had taken the transponder down to considerable depths, thousands of feet, and the same time temperature had risen substantially, indicating it had been inside a warm-blooded creature. Speculation involved the unfortunate animal being eaten by either a very large Great White, or one of the big solitary bull Orca know to inhabit the area, off the south coast of Western Australia. I don't want either of those possibilities around the boat.

 

Thanks to everyone for the fascinating contributions! It is a compelling subject - how intelligent orcas are, clearly, and how little we know about them and their behaviour. The account of them helping the whalers in Australia, the historic ship attacks - and why sailboats over (noisy, irritating, threatening?) motor boats? The fins, as AII suggests?

 

'They were having a real go': Scottish man recounts Orca attack https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/sep/24/they-were-having-a-real-go-scottish-man-recounts-orca-attack

 

+1 Will!
Great video Will.
Humans are not part of an orca's diet.

 

It would be nice if the Spanish or any authorities in whose water the recent attacks have taken place figure out if this is all done by one and the same Orca pod all the time, or by several pods. For this check all available footage for their overall size and black white pattern differences and dorsal fin shape plus size and body scars etc, and also the seen number of Orcas in the pod. And also set up statistics about all the hull and appendage characteristics of all attacked boats including their underwater colors, to see if there is any Orca attack preference to be found in the boats themselves.

 

If the orcas behaved like that here our government issue them with large fines and give them a stern talking too.

 

Doubt it, Brendan, you would probably be fined for ramming them !

 

It seems that they have now done exactly this, Angelique. In the 22 attacks, they have identified three orcas that are involved in in at least 61% of the incidents. There is also the suggestion that the orcas are reacting to an adverse encounter with a boat on an earlier occasion. There are some recent wounds on the whales apparently which might have been caused by a boat impact.

Previous incident may have led Orcas to target boats, say experts https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/oct/06/previous-incident-may-have-led-orcas-to-target-boats-say-experts-spain-portugal?CMP=fb_gu&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1601987294

 

Salish Sea Killer Whales Have a Surprising New Way of Hunting

....Demonstrating a dramatic behavior previously only observed in some killer whales in the southern hemisphere, Bigg’s killer whales in the Salish Sea have now been seen deliberately running aground to ambush prey. The behavior, witnessed at Protection Island, a national wildlife refuge near the mouth of Discovery Bay in Washington State, in August 2016, was described in a recent study....


A killer whale in Argentina charges a sea lion. This behavior, dubbed intentional stranding, has now been seen in killer whales in the northern hemisphere.
Photo by Sylvain Cordier/NPL/Minden Pictures


A subadult male Bigg’s killer whale intentionally strands itself in pursuit of harbor seals at a haulout on Protection Island in Washington State.
Photo by Justine Buckmaster