Killer whales are said to be training each other to sink boats after a couple from Cambridge were attacked on holiday. The terrifying sea assaults are believed to have begun in May 2020 in the Mediterranean.
Experts believe that a traumatised orca sparked the spree of violent attacks.
The initial incident was said to have taken place after a “critical moment of agony”, however the behaviour now appears to be catching on among the rest of the whale population.
Last week, a British couple from Cambridge were sailing in the Med near the coast of Morocco, when six killer whales circled them before striking.
The couple, Janet Morris and Stephen Bidwell, both 58, were taking sailing lessons when the incident took place.
The boat was slammed into by the rampaging orcas during an hour-long battering in choppy conditions.
The Strait of Gibraltar saw a similar incident earlier this month.
The sea beasts appear to be targeting boats’ rudders
Researcher Alfredo López Fernandez, a biologist at the University of Aveiro in Portugal, told livescience.com that it is believed an orca had an incident in which it collided with a vessel, sparking this new wave of volatile behaviour.
He said: “That traumatised orca is the one that started this behaviour of physical contact with the boat”.
“The orcas are doing this on purpose, of course, we don’t know the origin or the motivation, but defensive behaviour based on trauma, as the origin of all this, gains more strength for us every day”.
Skipper Werner Schaufelberger was aboard a boat that was attacked in May in the Strait of Gibraltar.
He told German website Yacht: “There were two smaller and one larger orca … The little ones shook the rudder at the back while the big one repeatedly backed up and rammed the ship with full force from the side.
“The two little orcas observed the bigger one’s technique and, with a slight run-up, they too slammed into the boat.”
The crew were saved by the Spanish coast guard, but the boat itself was sunk as a result of the incident.
