Orca Rebellion leaves trails of rammed boats: are they inspired by revenge, pain or memory? FROG

The revolt of orcas against boats, particularly on the coasts of Portugal and Spain, has surprised experts because of the animals’ behavior: is it inspired by revenge, pain or memory? In recent months, a spate of killer whale attacks on boats has sparked concern among scientists and speculation on social media that the whales may seek revenge.

What’s with #orcauprising, this unprecedented behavior? Since 2020, a small group of orcas in the Strait of Gibraltar have been interacting with sailing ships in a new way: they ram boats, pressing their bodies and heads against their hulls and biting until their oars break. Over three years, more than 500 interactions were recorded, three boats were sunk and dozens more damaged.

According to British newspaper The Guardian, there are two intriguing aspects to the story. First, of course, the whale motifs. Second, why orca incidents have gone viral on the internet. Apparently people like the idea of ​​orcas attacking boats. There are memes where you can see an orca “marching” on the rich with a sickle and hammer Soviet style.

But what causes animal behavior attracts the most attention. “What I find most exciting about it is that we really don’t know anything,” said Tom Mustill, a biologist and filmmaker who wrote How To Speak Whale after a humpback whale landed in his kayak. “As we put our rush with the design behind us, it really reflects very well where we are in cetacean science: we’re beginning to understand that it’s so complicated and nuanced, and that individuals are so different from one another.”

“It may be inquisitive and playful behavior,” read the 2021 report from the Orca Atlántica Working Group (GTOA, or “Atlantic Orca Working Group”), a partnership of Spanish and Portuguese scientists. A hypothesis supported by Philip Hoare, author of Leviathan, Albert and the Whale, who had a similar experience in Sri Lanka. “I’ve never been so excited and scared in my life,” he revealed. “They are tremendously powerful, incredibly intelligent, and incredibly organized.”

There are no reported cases of wild killer whales killing humans, but if “killer whales wanted to start attacking humans, it’s a very odd way for Mustill to disable small vessels.” They might just start eating swimmers everywhere. “

There are alternative theories. The fiberglass hulls of sailboats can be beautiful — and orcas appreciate the sensory feedback: whales have been recorded rubbing against smooth pebbles. But it can also be a trend. According to Mustill, social learning from one another is well documented in orca culture, and yes, behavioral science describes it as “culture.” “These are cultural beings,” said Barbara J King, professor emeritus of anthropology at the College of William & Mary, Virginia, in the United States and author of Animals’ Best Friends. “The networks of individuals in femaleled orca societies are highly attuned to the behavior of one another, so traditions evolve over time, becoming intergenerational in some cases.”

The Atlantic Orca Working Group report suggested that the interactions may be in response to individual orca experiences: “Behaviour induced by an aversive incident and therefore a precautionary behavior.”

Given that a single orca ‘matriarch’, ‘White Gladis’, appeared to have initiated these interactions, it has been suggested that injury or a previous encounter may have driven her into action. “If we’re talking about abilities, it’s not outside the range of reasonable expectations and wouldn’t necessarily be anthropomorphic,” King said. Could it be revenge? The expert recalled destructive actions by elephants, which were also presented as possible retaliation for abuse. “Both killer whales and elephants have the memory and intelligence to put these things together.”

According to Hoare, orcas will have a keen sense of what humans have done to their environment. As the exploits of “White Gladis” demonstrate, orca society is matriarchal and females can live up to 100 years: “You will have a memory, almost a generational memory, of a time when the ocean was not ruled by humans; Before seismic surveys existed, there were steam engines, then diesel engines and military sonar. The most important thing for them is the sound: there will be individual whales that will remember when the sea wasn’t so loud.”

ICNF bans interactions until the end of the year

The Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests (ICNF) this week banned tourist boats from actively approaching groups of orcas to avoid serious consequences. According to ICNF, interactions between orcas and ships, mostly sailing boats, have been recorded in the Strait of Gibraltar, the Portuguese coast and Galicia (Spain) since 2020.

“Because the reasons for this recent and repeated behavior towards the ships are unknown, it is known that the initial interactions performed by a small group of juvenile killer whales are currently being performed by a larger group of animals,” he explains.

In a statement published on the “website,” ICNF warns that given the size of the adult animals (maximum eight to nine meters in length and three to five tons in weight), killer whales interact more intensely with semirigids or other types of smaller vessels, such as those , which are used for whale watching, can have more serious consequences.

The institute notes that in cases where the orcas try to approach the boats, they move away and if the animals approach the boats without the crew noticing, the ship is stopped. Animals are moving away.

These bans are enshrined in a legislative decree aimed at preserving natural habitats and wild animals and plants in the territory of the European Union. All of these bans apply until the last day of the year.

The American press reports “almost daily” about orca attacks on boats near Portugal.