Why Do Orcas Keep Sinking Boats?

Images Courtesy of Getty Images
Thanks to Stefan George Kudor, Daniel Kriz, April Boyes

Credits:
Narrator: Stephanie Sammann
Writer: Lorraine Boissoneault
Illustrator: Jacek Ambrożewski

REFERENCES

[realscience]

Leave a comment to let me know your theory. Is it revenge? Or something else?

[Rdebo_]

Something to pay very close attention to is the fact that the orcas are NOT physically harming humans. They are damaging one kind of boat, and only that kind. Gladys probably has a pretty legitimate reason for her anger. Those creatures need to NOT be messed with.

[jorr]

Capturing orcas for human entertainment should be illegal.

[LunamFlore]

I can't help but wonder if this is a pre-emptive measure by the orcas. Orcas are intelligent and long-lived-- I imagine at least some wild orcas vividly remember boats' involvement in capturing their calves and splitting up their families.

[lucehleblanc]

after watching that video on orcas, i have no problem thinking that they are doing this out of spite. i love them so much

[Masada]

Can we honestly blame any sea creature for being mad at us?

[mastergecko]

Can we appreciate how they have the raw physical power to casually rip rudders off boats but they never attempted to harm anyone onboard?

[SabrinaLWilliams]

This happened to a friend of mine on a small boat manned by two people. They were attacked at arpund 2pm by well over an hour by a pod of 2 adults and 3 juveniles. The adults didn't participate, just looked on. She said it was the scariest experience and thought they would die. They had to be rescued and towed to shore as the rudder had been ripped off and they were destroying the rest of the boat and literally playing with the wreckage

[MindLaboratory]

Anyone serious about environmentalism needs to face the fact that a significant amount of environmentalism is just an outlet for people's hatred of humanity and themselves

[terramater]

That's really an important topic to think about, considering how intelligent orcas are! Our crew registered how orcas are changing wildlife in the Arctic. Orcas were rarely seen there. But now, because the ice is melting, they found a way to get there, and our team caught on camera these dolphins taking it over and hunting animals that were unaware of their existence. It's a question mark what changes will happen with the presence of orcas there since they are always the main predator wherever they are.

[akeepers]

The fact that they chose the rudders cannot be a coincidence. They might just be intelligent enough to know what parts to pull off.

[Jimera]

I don't know about revenge, but given what I know about Orcas I'm inclined to believe they know what they're doing and have a motivated reason for it beyond stimulation or territorial behavior. People don't get just HOW smart Orca's are; they're comparable to great apes in overall intelligence. They haven't been tested as much as apes for fairly obvious reasons so we don't know exactly how smart they are, but their social structures have depth and complexity comparable to neolithic humans. There's a good case to make for them having real culture and even language. Because of their aquatic habitat and lack of a means for complex object manipulation I feel like we tend to underestimate them. I feel that they might have a better grasp of how smart we are than we do of how smart they are. They certainly don't treat us like they do other animals, at the very least.

My point here is that these animals are straddling the barrier between animals and people. The idea that they're merely playing and don't understand what they're doing frankly sounds almost insulting to me. These creatures are intelligent enough to formulate, coordinate, and execute simple plans while hunting; it isn't much of a stretch to think that this is also an intentional plan with an intended impact. Exactly what they hope to achieve and why they're taking this specific course of action isn't very clear, but it seems far too consistent to be impulsive behavior to me. It feels very much like there's intentionality to it. In any case, I think they've made it pretty clear they are unhappy with human activity in their environment, and I feel we should respect that.

[Liz-nqrc]

A recent video released shows sailors trying to shoot orcas. Its ridiculous.
These animals are absolutely capable of revenge and I dont blame them.

[JapaneseAnimalover]

I work for the Washington state ferries and occasionally we have to stop the run due to Orcas. It's pretty easy to tell if it's a resident or transient, especially if one flings a sea lion to the moon. More so, the juveniles like to rub against the ferry from time to time which is absolutely terrifying btw. One time on the Bainbridge run, just off Alki, K pod showed up and we were stuck out there powered down for a good hour because the kids were rubbing against the boat as the adults went after salmon. It was a really surreal day.

[bulllletsss]

I read about something a while back. A boat of some kind rammed and injured or killed a baby orca in that area. If thats true, then that must be the reason why these orcas have been attacking boats.
The boats have become the enemy, and I couldnt blame them.

[Aprilsraven]

My Son fishes the waters of Eden NSW Australia, he often has encounters with Orcas there always close, friendly and non threatening...they crew are very respectful with stopping fishing, cutting engines and watching the Orcas interaction closely making sure not to antagonise ..he believes its appreciated as they've never had issues with the killers of the sea

[grimsvee]

Just wanted to express my thanks to the team that makes the videos for this channel. I love learning about science, astronomy and nature, and I love that there's an entertaining and digestible channel like this that I can watch. Fantastic job, everyone! And thank you for your part in making the world more interesting and for keeping my curiosity alive!

[gormauslander]

All great points, but one which seemed neglected is the timing. Yes, orcas have always liked stimulus and have in the past attacked vessels. However, the frequency and severity of attacks spiking suddenly after a significant drop in motor activities from the pandemic hints that they figured out we're the problem.

[daniell]

It is kinda strange how tone-deaf scientists seem on this one. The behavior is patterned, systematic, and repetitive. Maybe we can't define one single reason for this behavior, but saying there is no reason at all just seems manifestly false. Based on the wounds of the orca, it looks like some members got hurt by boats, and now associate the boats with pain.

[Cheka__]

The prospect of orcas wanting to harm us is ten times more frightening than sharks.