# This year has reportedly seen a spate of attacks by orcas ("killer whales") against boats in the Strait of Gibraltar **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 14, 2020, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-year-has-reportedly-seen-a-spate-of-attacks-by-orcas-killer-whales-against-boats-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar/920611 "2020-09-14T21:57:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![EnglishGrey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/englishgrey/32/14111_2.png) [@EnglishGrey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EnglishGrey)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2023, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-year-has-reportedly-seen-a-spate-of-attacks-by-orcas-killer-whales-against-boats-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar/920611/22 "2023-05-21T21:02:48Z")
Well that is concerning. My friend and I will be sailing there, on the way to Malta, in a few months. Wish me luck! ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2023, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-year-has-reportedly-seen-a-spate-of-attacks-by-orcas-killer-whales-against-boats-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar/920611/23 "2023-05-26T18:50:07Z")
[Scientific American thinks it’s an orca fad, like wearing a dead salmon for a hat.](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-has-a-group-of-orcas-suddenly-started-attacking-boats/) > [@](#): > > 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. This could be the next Tik-Tok challenge. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2023, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-year-has-reportedly-seen-a-spate-of-attacks-by-orcas-killer-whales-against-boats-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar/920611/24 "2023-05-26T19:23:25Z")
They’ve not killed anyone on the vessels they’ve sunk. That’s good. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2023, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-year-has-reportedly-seen-a-spate-of-attacks-by-orcas-killer-whales-against-boats-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar/920611/25 "2023-05-26T19:27:12Z")
My theory is that these are Spanish orcas applying terroristic pressure on the British colonial authorities in Gibraltar with unpredictable brazen attacks in local waters. Oh, yeah, /s ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2023, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-year-has-reportedly-seen-a-spate-of-attacks-by-orcas-killer-whales-against-boats-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar/920611/26 "2023-05-26T21:31:03Z")
Salmon Hats would be a great band name. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2023, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-year-has-reportedly-seen-a-spate-of-attacks-by-orcas-killer-whales-against-boats-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar/920611/27 "2023-05-26T21:44:28Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > [Scientific American thinks it’s an orca fad, like wearing a dead salmon for a hat. A variety of sea creatures like to wear hats. > **[Australian scientists discover furry crab species that wears sponge as hat](https://www.simplemost.com/scientists-find-furry-crab-wears-sponge-hats/)** > > Hats: They’re a hot fashion trend — even if you’re a crustacean. A previously undiscovered species of crab, recently found washed up on a beach in Western > **[Guest Post: Urchins Wearing Hats!](http://www.backtothesea.org/blog/guest-post-urchins-wearing-hats)** > > Text and Photos by Emilie Novaczek ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2023, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-year-has-reportedly-seen-a-spate-of-attacks-by-orcas-killer-whales-against-boats-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar/920611/28 "2023-05-26T22:17:25Z")
Hats as a disguise or something sacrificial for predators to mistakenly take a bite from make a lot of sense. For bottom dwelling critters, putting the disguise on their top surface makes sense; that’s where predators approach from. Hence hats, not shoes. For a fuzzy thing like that crab or for a nearly sessile creature like an urchin I could see how a hat could be retained mechanically as the animal slowly moves about. But orcas have rather smooth skin and move fast through the water. How the heck did they get the dead salmon to stay on their heads? The Scientific American article had no info and Googling seemed to turn up lots of popular articles repeating other popular articles and accompanied by random file photos of orcas. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2023, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-year-has-reportedly-seen-a-spate-of-attacks-by-orcas-killer-whales-against-boats-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar/920611/29 "2023-06-24T13:18:10Z")
Sure, it’s all fun and games having a boat race, but the orcas want to play too… > **[Orcas disrupt boat race near Spain in latest display of dangerous, puzzling...](https://apnews.com/article/orcas-attack-ocean-race-sailboat-killer-whales-c13e7e67f1c8f536e5be9258455eed70)** > > A pod of killer whales bumped one of the boats in an endurance sailing race as it approached the Strait of Gibraltar. It's the latest encounter in what researchers say is a growing trend of sometimes-aggressive interactions with Iberian orcas. The... ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2023, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-year-has-reportedly-seen-a-spate-of-attacks-by-orcas-killer-whales-against-boats-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar/920611/30 "2023-06-24T14:36:34Z")
How long until they decide that boats are just food cartons? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2023, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-year-has-reportedly-seen-a-spate-of-attacks-by-orcas-killer-whales-against-boats-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar/920611/31 "2023-06-25T12:59:27Z")
Coming soon: antivaxers decide that Covid vaccine spike proteins shed into the ocean are driving the orcas to violence.\* \*and probably sank the Titanic submersible too! ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2023, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-year-has-reportedly-seen-a-spate-of-attacks-by-orcas-killer-whales-against-boats-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar/920611/32 "2023-06-25T14:36:39Z")
I wonder when some irate or frightened fishermen will begin trying to kill them. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2023, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-year-has-reportedly-seen-a-spate-of-attacks-by-orcas-killer-whales-against-boats-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar/920611/33 "2023-06-26T12:52:28Z")
Fishermen been unnecessarily killing sharks for centuries now. What makes you think they’re not doing that to orcas now, at least in the few areas orcas are common? ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-year-has-reportedly-seen-a-spate-of-attacks-by-orcas-killer-whales-against-boats-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar/920611/34 "2023-11-07T05:33:59Z")
Another yacht goes under! > **[Orcas sink another boat in Strait of Gibraltar](https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/11/06/orcas-attack-yacht-gibraltar/)** > > Since 2020, orcas in the Strait of Gibraltar have been bumping and biting boats in dozens of incidents that have frightened mariners and confounded scientists. ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-year-has-reportedly-seen-a-spate-of-attacks-by-orcas-killer-whales-against-boats-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar/920611/35 "2023-11-07T10:42:13Z")
If it’s a fad, it has spread 2000 miles north: > **[Orca rams into yacht off Shetland in first such incident in northern waters](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/21/orca-rams-yacht-off-shetland-first-such-incident-northern-waters)** > > Cetacean exhibits same behaviour towards vessel in North Sea that has been seen in Iberian orca population (Or a Spanish orca went for a wander, ofc) ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-year-has-reportedly-seen-a-spate-of-attacks-by-orcas-killer-whales-against-boats-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar/920611/36 "2023-11-07T13:44:41Z")
Interesting, I keep up with people who swim the Straights of Gibraltar and I don’t remember hearing any coming across any orcas. I wonder if part of it is because the weather, currents, and temps have been “better” this year as there have been more crossings by swimmers this year than in most years. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-year-has-reportedly-seen-a-spate-of-attacks-by-orcas-killer-whales-against-boats-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar/920611/37 "2023-11-07T16:23:49Z")
I wonder if perhaps there’s something different about boating equipment these days. All commercial or recreational fishing boats have “fish finders”, specialized downward aiming sonars that can spot not only the seafloor, but schooling fish. Have perhaps in the last few years a new generation of these things been developed that operate on different frequencies or are much louder, or softer, than prior inventions? Or use a new waveform? Modern digital signal processing has a lot of voodoo and darn near anything could be possible. Anyhow, if more and more boats are emitting more and more of a particularly “nails on chalkboard” sound in the orcas’ perception, they might be attacking not boats, but sound sources. This is a wild guess retrieved directly from my rump, but maybe an interesting guess to somebody. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-year-has-reportedly-seen-a-spate-of-attacks-by-orcas-killer-whales-against-boats-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar/920611/38 "2023-11-07T16:42:32Z")
It is plausible, but we’d have to see evidence of this worldwide and not just in one or two places. Unless there is something similar about each case. Perhaps there is something about the boats in the Straight themselves - I mean, maybe the Orca are tired of hearing crews singing _Spanish Ladies_. ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-year-has-reportedly-seen-a-spate-of-attacks-by-orcas-killer-whales-against-boats-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar/920611/39 "2023-11-07T16:50:59Z")
Per the Live Science article above, the experts studying it suspect it started with one traumatized female and has spread. > “The orcas are doing this on purpose, of course, we don’t know the origin or the motivation, but defensive behavior based on trauma, as the origin of all this, gains more strength for us every day,” López Fernandez said. > > Experts suspect that a female orca they call White Gladis suffered a “critical moment of agony” — a collision with a boat or entrapment during illegal fishing — that flipped a behavioral switch. “That traumatized orca is the one that started this behavior of physical contact with the boat,” López Fernandez said. > > Orcas are social creatures that can easily learn and reproduce behaviors performed by others, according to the 2022 study. In the [majority of reported cases](https://www.amn.pt/Media/Paginas/DetalheNoticia.aspx?nid=3200), orcas have made a beeline for a boat’s rudder and either bitten, bent or broken it. > > “We do not interpret that the orcas are teaching the young, although the behavior has spread to the young vertically, simply by imitation, and later horizontally among them, because they consider it something important in their lives,” López Fernandez said. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-year-has-reportedly-seen-a-spate-of-attacks-by-orcas-killer-whales-against-boats-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar/920611/40 "2023-11-07T16:55:00Z")
I think it’s just a phase they’re going through. Once they develop some other interests they’ll get over it. Perhaps get them involved in organized sports to burn off some of that extra energy. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2023, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-year-has-reportedly-seen-a-spate-of-attacks-by-orcas-killer-whales-against-boats-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar/920611/41 "2023-11-07T16:55:56Z")
Cool. Makes total sense within a local group of orcas. And since they are migrating critters, “local” means wherever the pod is now, not necessarily in the Straits of Gibraltar. But if this behavior is springing up in geographically isolated groups that do not plausibly interact, what then should we think? I believe that these remote occurrences are really happening too, although I’m in no position to debate someone who’s actually actively studying this stuff professionally. It’d also be interesting to plot the season and frequency of occurrences versus the seasonal spatial density of orcas. Do we have a hotspot of attacks due to lots of boats, lots of orcas, or just an especially hostile local pod? Making no moral judgment here; orcas as a species have certainly earned the right to be pissed at humans as a species. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-year-has-reportedly-seen-a-spate-of-attacks-by-orcas-killer-whales-against-boats-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar/920611.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-year-has-reportedly-seen-a-spate-of-attacks-by-orcas-killer-whales-against-boats-in-the-strait-of-gibraltar/920611.md?page=3)