“She’s a traumatized orca mother”: orca Gladis learns to attack fellow hunters

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“We are sinking, we are sinking!”, reported the crew of the British April Boyes (31) on Thursday. For over an hour their sailing yacht was attacked by killer whales off the coast of Gibraltar. “It feels like they’re biting the yacht apart,” says one crew member in the video. Again and again the killer whales hit the rudder with full force until it breaks off. Then water runs into the boat and the Spanish Coast Guard rescues the crew.

Orca attacks have been on the rise since 2020. More than 500 attacks have now been documented. On the night of May 4, the yacht Champagne sank to the bottom of the sea. It belonged to the Swiss Werner Schaufelberger (72). “There were two smaller and one larger orca. The two little ones shake the rudder in the back. The big one kept running and rammed the ship with full force,” the skipper describes the attack.

Researchers and sailors are puzzled: why do killer whales attack sailboats? Killer whales don’t normally attack humans, but their behavior has changed between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. A new study shows that a mother killer whale teaches other animals to attack the sailboats. Researchers call them White Gladis and suspect that the animal may have had a traumatizing experience with seafarers. That writes the science magazine “LifeScience”.

Gladis has been traumatized by humans

For example, it is possible that Gladis has become entangled in fishing nets, or that one of her young has been killed by a boat. “Gladis is a traumatized orca mother who caused this behavior of physical contact with the boat,” said Alfredo López Fernandez, a biologist at the University of Aveiro in Portugal. It is not about revenge, according to him, but about a “reaction and precaution”.

“That the animals have had bad experiences with humans seems to be a credible hypothesis,” says Christoph Winterhalter (62), chairman of the HOZ (High Seas Center International Switzerland), to Blick. “We do not understand the animals and can misbehave in such situations,” says the expert.

Man has to learn to deal with it

Orcas are among the most intelligent animals in the world. They are social creatures that learn from each other. Marine biologists are convinced that Gladis is teaching the other killer whales how to protect themselves from sailboats.

One thing is clear: the killer whales have changed their behavior towards sailing yachts. It is not known whether the attacks will also settle in the long term or get worse. There are now instructions on the internet on how people should behave during an orca attack. “Turn off the engine immediately, but don’t annoy the animals, stay calm, turn off the lights,” recommends Winterhalter. He warns that there could be more attacks in the future.

Source: Blick