Why killer whales started sinking yachts

The killer whale is called the killer whale, but this is usually not associated with an attack on a person. Marine mammals deftly deal with seals, dolphins and even other whales. But lately they have begun to behave strangely and dangerously towards people as well. In the Mediterranean, killer whales have declared a real war on small yachts and sailboats.

It is known that animals sank three yachts, and the number of damaged or simply attacked is much larger. The last known incident occurred on May 4 in the Strait of Gibraltar off the coast of Spain. There, two teenage killer whales began to break the steering wheel of the yacht, and at this time an adult whale attacked the vessel from the side, using the body as a ram.

Skipper Werner Schaufelberger, who was on the yacht, said that due to powerful impacts, the ship leaked. The team managed to contact the coast guard and soon Spanish border guards arrived to help those in distress. They removed the crew from the deck and tried to tow the yacht to the shore. But she received several large holes and sank.

Two days before this incident, a similar incident occurred in the Strait of Gibraltar. True, then everything went without a shipwreck. In total, in the period from 2020 to the present day, about 500 cases of killer whale attacks on watercraft have been recorded. All collisions were recorded in the Mediterranean Sea, but in different parts of it.

Scientists say the vast geography of skirmishes is a wake-up call. He says that the behavior of marine predators is a system, and not the revenge of a single flock. The attack always occurs according to one scenario - some animals break the ship's rudder to deprive it of the ability to maneuver, while others try to destroy the hull.

When the yacht stops, the killer whales lose interest in it and swim away. But by this time the ship may receive buoyancy-threatening damage. A biologist from the Portuguese University of Aveiro, Alfredo López Fernández, thinks killer whales are taking revenge on humans:

According to one of the versions of the oceanologist, some killer whale was seriously injured due to a collision with a yacht. This made her aggressive, and then other members of the pack adopted this behavior. It is known that these mammals are able to sympathize and show sometimes touching human feelings.