understand the shocking motive behind these attacks!

Last month, two boats from the Ocen Race, the biggest sailing competition in the world, became targets of attacks by orcas in the Strait of Gibraltar, however, this event is not really new, since since July 2020 sailors in the region located between Portugal, Spain and Morocco reported similar events.

During the summer of 2022, Andrea Fantini and his crewmates were heading towards Tangier, on the Moroccan coast, at the exit of a global regatta, the Globe40, when one of them, seeing an orca, shouted to warn his friends about the presence of the mammal.

Then Fantini saw a tail in the distance and then an orca running towards them.

According to Andrea, there were seven orcas around the boat and soon they started attacking Leme. “It was super weird and scary,” he admitted.

Initially, this habit would have appeared with only two or three mammals, however, it has grown and, now, at least 16 types and several known facts are recognized.

It is noteworthy that despite being generally known as killer whales, orcas are actually part of the dolphin family and have never been seen as aggressive or violent towards humans.

For some researchers, there are reasonable explanations for such events. According to Alfredo López, a researcher at the Atlantic Orca Working Group (GTOA), there are two. Since the first is linked to animal instinct and the second to self-defense. However, for biologist Monika Wieland Shiel, the most likely thing is that these animals are “playing”.

A new project by the expert on these animals, Renaud de Stephanis, is in the process of being developed. Such research consists of presenting fictional rudders to the orcas, filming them and observing how they react.

However, what seems to be happening is that, instead of biting the material, they push it with their snout until they no longer resist and break, for this reason, the scientist sees the latest occurrences as a game.

There still seems to be no consensus among scholars about what could be happening to these dolphins, it is only known that their behavior has been changing over the years.

Featured photo: Orca, a relative of the dolphin (Photo/Reproduction: Mollie Naccarato/PWWA)