Killer whales sink a boat in the Mediterranean again! We finally know why they attacked

For 4 years, killer whales have been attacking boats in the waters separating Spain and Morocco. These very smart animals don't do this by chance…

This is at least the 673rd time that a boat has interacted with killer whales around the Strait of Gibraltar since 2020. This time, it was the passengers of a fifteen-meter sailboat who saw the boat they found themselves on sink to the bottom of the water. The events occurred on May 14 TF1 reports. Passengers first saw a pod of killer whales approaching. After several shocks, they sounded the alarm.

Finally, these repeated shocks overpowered the hull and rudder and the boat began to sink after taking on water. Fortunately, the two passengers were rescued by an oil tanker a few nautical miles from the future wreck, which finally landed them in Gibraltar, a British territory located on the southern tip of Spain.

The reasons for the first orca attack on a boat off the Spanish coast in 2020 were mysterious, but with an inventory of about 600 interactions over the past four years, as well as the testimonies of victims of these sometimes inconsequential nuisances, some specialists have established the first hypothesis. If this new behavior puzzles scientists, it will ultimately be the result of the curiosity of some killer whales and perhaps immaturity among younger specimens.

According to some scientists, killer whales have adopted a game of boat racing. Were those who ended up attacking the boats the losers, or was this still part of the game? A mystery, but we know that they are particularly intelligent animals and that their way of having fun often flirts with cruelty.

What is certain is that within a few years, they understood well which part of the ships to attack. The 50 specimens living near the canal are concerned only with monohulls and boats similar in size to the one that recently sank.

The animal known as the killer whale is certainly a formidable predator of almost all marine species, but it poses only a very low risk to humans. To date, there have been no documented cases of fatal attacks on humans in the wild. As for the four deaths that occurred in the water park, it is impossible to say whether they were accidents or whether these sea creatures chose to kill intentionally. Conversely, killer whales tend to be indifferent or curious towards humans. It really depends on the rate at which human and orc meet.