Why are orcas attacking boats and is the behaviour spreading?

Science Weekly

The Guardian

Science

4.2 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 27 June 2023

⏱️ 19 minutes

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Summary

Since 2020, orcas off the coast of Spain and Portugal have been ramming boats, biting rudders and, in a few cases, sinking entire vessels. Now it has been reported that a similar encounter has happened off Shetland. Madeleine Finlay speaks to marine biologist and orca expert Hanne Strager about what might be behind these incidents and where our fascination with orcas comes from This podcast was amended on 27 June 2023. An earlier version contained audio of the calls of a humpback whale, not an orca. This audio has now been removed.. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the Guardian. Are you hashtag
0:14.9	hashtag team auker or team yacht? Social media users around the world are
0:21.0	picking sides in a growing fight between killer whales and sailors.
0:27.0	The stories and videos of orcas slamming into boats, fighting rudders, and sometimes even sinking vessels off the coast of Spain and Portugal have gone viral
0:37.4	A group of orcas severely damaged a yacht off the coast of southern Spain. The pod broke the rudder and pierced
0:44.4	the hull of the boat in the early hours. Then last week a Dutch sailor off the
0:49.3	coast of Shetland had his yacht rammed, causing speculation that the behavior is traveling north.
0:57.0	One theory is that the killer whales may be finally organizing, to exact their revenge.
1:05.0	Oh, Raj here?
1:07.0	You coming for the rider?
1:08.0	He is going for it.
1:10.0	Oh my God. And while you couldn't be...
1:13.0	And while you couldn't be...
1:16.0	And while you couldn't blame the animal world for wanting to rise up against us humans.
1:24.9	Is that really what the a Yorkers are up to?
1:28.0	What are these encounters about?
1:30.7	And are they spreading?
1:33.0	From the Guardian, I'm Madeline Finley, and this is Science Weekly.
1:37.0	Hannah Strega,, you're a biologist, a whale researcher and author of the book The Killer Whale journals,
1:50.0	Our Love and Fear of Orca's. And you've been following the story of these orca attacks. So first of all, tell me, if a boat was in an area with orca's. Is this a behavior you might usually see or do
2:06.5	or do allkers typically avoid boats or do they come into contact without it being an
2:11.9	attack?
	...

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