They Are Starting To Attack Us! Here’s Why

Why are killer whales attacking boats? Come with me and let's find out!

Legal Stuff.

[TikeWates]

They're smart enough to tell us that they're pissed off at us

[ouroboris]

They bite off the rudder and keel of boats for the same reason they bite the fins off of whales - to restrict their prey's maneuverability.

[codinghusky]

During the covid period, tourism stopped and I spent the entire summer swimming along the coast of my country, in peace and quiet and crystal clean sea.
Now the tourism is back and I absolutely understand the Orcas -.-

[jamesharrison]

They've studied us and now have learned about our weaknesses.

[paullaroque]

they be tired of us treating their home like a giant toilet.

[JamesStreet-tpvb]

The most scary thing isn't the actual attacks but the fact that they've figured out where the most critical part of a boat
is and how to disable it.

[Welcometomyworld]

Somebody on a boat in that area did something horrible to some Orcas that they came across. It was traumatizing enough for the Orcas that they have remembered it and they have communicated around the region and this is without a doubt an act of revenge. There is precedent for this type of communication amongst animals. There was a study down about trauma inflicted upon a particular demographic of birds. Not only did all of the birds in the area remember this trauma, but they also passed the trauma down to next generations, to the point where birds that were born decades after the traumatic event, were still behaviorally affected by the previous generations trauma.

[SearchIndex]

I was a merchant marine and saw orca behavior close aboard. One particular incident was very cool and cute—2 rows of female cows and calves rushing each other to harvest salmon …

The matriarch of the pod was WAY bigger than the young mothers and babies …She oversaw the procedure from the end of the ‘field’ like a referee

After they lined up and rushed at each other several times the organized event, the babies ‘spy hopped’ right next to our ship, watching us watch them on deck


It was already known years ago that orca know to avoid any boats that have certain kinds of fishing gear on board such as bow harpoons …but they could theoretically mistake other configurations for harpoons

[heyitotallyagreewithyou]

If you have been attacked multiple times by an animal that isn’t usually aggressive towards humans, then you might be the problem.

[SleepstateAZ]

They couldn't come close to being as destructive and aggressive as humans if they gave it their all. I love watching Orcas in the wild. I watch the Southern Residents on a live cam they have, I never get tired of it. The Whale museum runs the live stream on YouTube. Orcalab has 5 cameras to watch the Northern Residents, 1 underwater cam placed near Vancouver Island, BC. You can watch them underwater in one of their favorite rubbing beaches live. They replay the best footage at night.

[georgeboyd]

As you mentioned, Orcas have sonar. Navy sonar is very powerful and it messes them up. My guess is they are very angry about that.

[Whosback]

They are learning, comparing, and passing on the information.

[CM-eynq]

It's so weird. I've been approached by Orcas several times while diving off the coast of Norway. The oldest, larger ones are just very gentle giants, while the "teens" might actually give you a bruise, very occasionally. Curiousness, playfulness, I guess. Although it can be scary as f... at times, I have yet to experience anything resembling predatory behavior or any real aggression towards humans.

I've also done quite a bit of diving off the coast of Spain, but have never seen an Orca there.

[karidennis]

One a$$hole did something to traumatize an orca and now they are attacking boats? That is can believe, people are jerks.

[julitosnijders]

I love this kind of production.
Well Done. Very informative.
Thank you.

[alanrobinson]

There's an old tale of a captain of a whaling ship down in Australia. The Orcas would help by herding whales towards him. All they would do was go after the livers of the whales they herded as payment for their services. It was a beneficial cooperative. That captain got a bee in his bonnet about that liver thing and aggressively ran the Orcas off. The Orcas stopped helping and made it difficult for the whaling captain to do business in those local waters. That captain didn't realize the good thing he had and basically ruined his opportunities there because his ego got the best of him.

[LeoBeastmode]

You thought they were playfully chasing boats but in fact, they were studying them.

[clintonachor]

Yeah. Something has changed. I think it may be we're interfering with their feeding. Or their migration. Did these attacks start happening suddenly? Are they always near their feeding locations or routes of travel?

[MeanGeneSanDiego]

Boats are often FISHING boats... Orcas are just eliminating the competition.

[ScubaSteveCanada]

Yeah, I was in the water surrounded by a school of fish, within a minute, I was surrounded by a second group of fish ... it was great! The northern tip of Vancouver Island but on the channel side.

My scuba dive was over and, once I surfaced, the friends on the boat yelled "did you see that Orca?" I thought they were joking ... they weren't. During the latter part of the dive, I could hear the tender boat going back/forth above - I thought the other divers were being picked up. I find out later, the tender was trying to keep the orca away from us. It was a solo orca without a pod. Typically these are the ones that eat the seals and sea lions.

The orca stayed with us for about 30 minutes, then took off. The boat Captain, on a hunch, took us to a small group of islands with shallow water in between. 5 minutes later, the orca shows up and is feeding. We all saw the orca lift it's head above the water and looked right at us. The boat Captain states "you didn't want to be in the water with that one!"