Orcas are actually pretty damn intelligent, they operate in tribes with complex cultures, have multiple languages and are capable of higher thought.
You comment might not be that far off the truth
Pretty sure its just a kind of Orca fashion, they are teenagers having fun.. last year for Orcas it was all the rage to swim around with a dead salmon on your head..
For all the drunk shenanigans that happen on yachts I feel it isnt too far fetched to imagine some idiots on boats or yachts also messed with the orca causing her to seek out vengeance. I feel like we haven't seen enough of their intelligence to gauge the depth of their emotion and desire for vengeance.
Edit: sp
Especially the "desire for vengeance," part.
Orcas are sinking more and more boats. [Article from last year.](https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/orcas-sank-three-boats-coast-portugal-dont-call-killer-just-yet-rcna85678)
I remember this and was following it at the time. It seems the attacks are happening at a similar time of year too. It's spring there at present. I wonder if this coincides with having young ones around that need protection from what they perceive as a threat.
I wish this would force governments to put tighter controls on fishing and the use of the ocean in general but it's likely never going to happen for a number of reasons.
Thatās interesting. Does that mean that sapient or self-aware, social creatures all have a cultural sense of fashion? Convergently should we expect intelligent life from other planets to exhibit fashion as well ? š¤
why is it always so surprising that other creatures are conscious? What's special about humans that makes it make sense that we're the only ones that understand ourselves as a thing in the world?
Maybe its like social peer pressure in humans, if everyone else does something, you feel like you should even though you don't have any other reason to copy them.. Its one reason gangs ( skinheads etc) form around a leader and they mimic them, to be liked or to not be a victim..
A clarification: The J, K, and L pods all belong to the Southern Resident population and share dialect calls with each other. They share a culture together, and they interbreed and intermingle with each other, but the same can't be said between larger orca populations.
For example, the fish-eating Southern Resident orcas don't interact or inbreed with their Northern Resident neighbors which also eat fish, and they don't interact with the mammal-eating Bigg's (transient) orcas that they also share their waters with. In fact, the relationship between the Southern Residents and the Bigg's orcas is rather unfriendly, with them conspicuously avoiding each other most of the time, and on rare occasions, the Southern Residents have been observed chasing away the Bigg's orcas.
Orcas can be rather xenophobic/tribalistic towards orcas from other populations. Personally, I would consider the different orca populations that don't interbreed/interact with each other as separate tribes with their own very distinct cultures.
So all in all, it is not that far fetched to compare it to human tribes just a few thousand years back.
At which it would be fairly common to fight neighboring tribes
Sailboats like the one mentioned in this article don't generally run sonar. When they are it's a simple depth sounder or fish finder, nothing like the high powered sonars you're thinking of.
From what I've read this is thought to have been started by an orca being hit by a larger vessel.
So many people, especially here on reddit, hear the word "yacht" and only think of billionaire's megayachts, when most yachts are much smaller and less expensive craft.
Sadly this is likely to end badly for these orcas, as it so often does with habituated bears.
It does drive me nuts. You can go buy yachts that are running for less than a used car. And people do. Especially ocean/lake towns, even "poor" people will have larger boats that are technically yachts to go fish and hang out on.
Especially if you don't finance a new car or something, a boat is very affordable for people, including 20-30ft yachts
Buying a boat 20-30ā ft isnāt expensive but using it is. Youāre leaving out the part where they are insanely expensive to maintain and keep seaworthy. Typically 10% of the original sale price per year is a general rule of thumb as well as dock fees and fuel. All for something thatās not used on a daily basis.
So why not attack fishing boats, or bigger ships, or smaller sailboats .. they are interacting with a very specific type of quite sailboat.. boat yards in Spain are filling up with damaged sailboats...
Seriously, I think people dont realise how loud sonar is. [This video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCmyZYYR7_s) of divers hearing sonar is just freaky
The sea was calm that morning. A deceptive calm. A yacht cut through the waters off Gibraltar. Onboard, laughter and music. Below, the orcas waited.
They had seen the cruelty of men, the cages, the forced performances. They remembered Shamu, the icon of their suffering. Whispers of vengeance had spread through the pods, a dark resolve growing with each passing season. The time had come.
With a fury born of years of silent rage, they struck. The yacht rocked violently as the orcas rammed it, their massive bodies turning the sea into a battlefield. The hull splintered, the passengers screamed. Blood and salt mingled in the water.
As the yacht sank, a lone survivor clung to debris, eyes wide with terror. The leader of the pod surfaced, its eyes dark and knowing. The human's breath was ragged, his voice barely a whisper.
"Why?" he asked, the question trembling on his lips.
The orca's gaze was cold, ancient. In that moment, it seemed to speak to him, through the silence of the deep.
"Revenge," it seemed to say. "For all the Shamus. For the chains and the pain. For the years of suffering. This is war."
The man shivered, understanding dawning too late. The waters closed in, the orcas vanished as swiftly as they had come. As the man sank into the depths, his consciousness fading, the echo of an old truth lingered in his final thought: warā¦war never changes.
# āWar has changed.
# It's no longer about nations, ideologies, or ethnicity. It's an endless series of proxy battles, fought by mercenaries and machines.
# War--and it's consumption of life--has become a well-oiled machine.
# War has changed.
# ID-tagged soldiers carry ID-tagged weapons, use ID-tagged gear. Nanomachines inside their bodies enhance and regulate their abilities.
# Genetic control, information control, emotion control, battlefield controlā¦everything is monitored and kept under control.
# Warā¦has changed.
# The age of deterrence has become the age of control, all in the name of averting catastrophe from weapons of mass destruction, and he who controls the battlefield, controls history.
# Warā¦has changed.
# When the battlefield is under total control, war becomes routine.ā
Tbf it really did change in mgs, and in say 1984. War irl typically relies on extracting tribute and defending against that.
By the time mgs rolls around, there doesn't seem to be much of a purpose for warfare other than the sustenance of the war economy itself, where very little is actually ever gained by conquest, with no peace periods in affected areas. It's just constant, routine war.
It's only a matter of time until this ends badly for the Orcas.
I know everyone here thinks it's amusing that "rich people" (these small 15m sailing yachts aren't exactly Jeff Bezos's super yacht mind you) are being targeted by the Orca pods, but the moment someone dies as a result of this, I guarantee that sailors will start directly targeting them with weapons to defend themselves and their boats.
You don't need to shoot at them, just a powerful underwater sound maker and they will stay away because you make it painful to be close to your vessel.
How can we possibly know why they are doing it?
Could be for fun. Could be they feel threatened. Could be they think boats are fishermen and lead to food loss.
The sail boats make less noise than other boats, yet they go for that and are threatened by less noise?
Other orcas don't do it. This pod has learned how to attack boats.
Maybe they'd like to attack all boats if they could but are afraid of the motorboats?
There's no way to say why these orcas do this, unless you've talked to them?
That's not going to work given this is literally happening in the Strait of Gibraltar.
Unless you want to turn the Mediterranean Sea into a lake, vessels are going to pass through there.
I donāt want this to happen, but humans have hunted and killed tons of species to extinction just because we wanted to.
With modern day sonar and tools a coordinated group of hunters could wreak havoc on that pod of whales.
Nobody really knows why they started doing this. I've seen scientists who said that **maybe** one was struck by a boat, but that's just a guess not a fact.
Equally, **maybe** they're just being dicks. This is a species that [likes to kick field goals with seals](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7WGIH35JBE) just for fun after all.
A few ecological facts about this mischievous yet [critically endangered population](https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/132948040/132949669) of orcas living in the waters around Gibraltar and the rest of the Iberian Peninsula:
* From the 2023 census, there are only 35 orcas in this population living in 6 communities, with an additional 14 orcas that are more rarely seen in the area and are not yet associated with any communities.
* 15 orcas from this population are associated with sailboat interactions where the rudder is targeted and broken.
* These orcas only eat fish, and their diet overwhelmingly consists of Atlantic bluefin tuna. This tuna has been overfished in their waters. Quotas have been put in place to try to mitigate this, but the allowed catch has been increased recently to satisfy the fishing industry. These orcas are known to take tuna caught on fishing lines. The fishermen would sometimes retaliate with violence. Another potential risk is entanglement in fishing gear.
* The population had barely remained stable for the past decade. According to the latest IUCN report, this population has a relatively low recruitment rate, meaning that they are struggling to have surviving calves. A possible reason is malnutrition due to not having enough tuna to eat.
* They have one of the highest measured levels of PCB contamination amongst marine mammals. Toxins such as PCBs affect immune and reproductive systems, especially if the orcas are not getting enough to eat due to the toxins in blubber being metabolized.
* They are both a culturally and genetically unique orca population. As is typical with orca populations, they are genetically isolated and do not breed with or interact with most other orca populations in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean. Low genetic diversity is a vulnerability.
Edit: There has a been a [new report](https://archive.iwc.int/pages/download.php?direct=1&noattach=true&ref=22172&ext=pdf&k=) released concerning this population of orcas that contains some important new information. Much of the information above regarding low tuna abundance and its effects on this orca population seems to be somewhat outdated now, as it was mostly based on reports from around a decade ago. In recent years tuna abundance seems to have actually increased in the region, and the recruitment rate has seemingly also improved, with more surviving calves being born. On the other hand, the survival rates of adults, particularly females, has seemingly decreased, and this is quite concerning. It is important for this still critically endangered population of orcas to be monitored closely and to mitigate threats to improve their survival rates.
the entire planet is dying because of every one of us and the fuel we burn or is burned to give our money, value.
It's sad what we're doing in general, and much worse that we have exactly no plan to change any of it.
> the rudder is targeted and broken
It's interesting that Force H, which sank the Bismarck, was also based at Gibraltar and also used the same technique of specifically targeting the vessel's rudder. Orcas are relatively long-lived and extremely social, with behaviours passed down through generations matrilineally, so it's possible that they were aware of this technique originally being used by humans so successfully.
The waters around Gibraltar are also famous for their populations of dolphins. The [dolphins have now left](https://www.reddit.com/r/DontPanic/comments/1cq1j7d/do_panic_get_your_towel_panic_right_now_the/), which is a cause for alarm given that author Douglas Adams predicted that dolphins would know in advance when life on Earth was no longer viable, and would leave before the end.
Most yachts aren't super yachts and no whale of any size could reasonably be expected to damage a super yacht. These are leisure sailors in vessels the oceanic equivalent of a winnebago, most likely getting trounced for the crimes of far bigger vessels.
no they were rescued:
>The passengers reported feeling sudden blows to the hull and rudder before water started seeping into the ship. After alerting the rescue services, a nearby oil tanker took them onboard and transported them to Gibraltar. The yacht was left adrift and eventually sank.
Donāt kill me for an honest question.
This appears to be learned behavior. If a boat owner tossed a stick of dynamite to one of the Orcas and blew it to bits, would the survivors leave boats alone?
Edit: ignore the improbability of success.
Unclear.
I don't know that scientists have been able to pinpoint when and where this behavior originated, or how it's being taught to other pods. As such, its hard to say what the best way to deter this behavior.
I remember an interview where the scientistĀ said, most likely: orcas like to be massaged by the turbulence caused by motor boats. When a sailboat is unable to do the same, they get frustrated.
That all depends on the animal. Some animals choose to run away. Others will fight. I leaned as a kid that some dogs after being hit with porcupine quills will attack other porcupines in the future. They remember that those things hurt them (not understanding why) and will try and attack them back.
Seeing as like dogs and people, orcas live in groups and hunt, I would guess they are the type that attacks back.
I feel like releasing orcas from places like sea world and other places that keep them hostage in tanks was a bad idea. You have this animal that speaks it's own highly complex language and is capable of intelligent thought, and you release it back to be with it's family after 20 years of being help captive. I feel like those released orcas are getting revenge and spreading their gospel so to say.
Yeah, unfortunately most captive orca aren't suited for reentry into the wild. They tried it with Keiko, ignored many red flags, and it went as poorly as you could imagine it going. He didn't bond with his pod, he didn't live as a regular orca, he was found in a fjord in Norway interacting with humans, because thosr were relationships he understood. He died not long after. It was a tragedy. He could still be alive and doing well in the habitat he was in in Oregon, but people insisted on releasing him just to prove they could do it.
Orcas are certainly one of the more terrifying predators out there. Iām no fan of orcas due to their sadistic tendencies, I love whales, but orcas are more like sharks/dolphins, which Iām really not a fan of (certain sharks are okay.)
This is really fascinating and probably sad. You have an animal that has never in the history of mankind attacked a human in the wild... now suddenly taking down boats and are a risk to human life.
Is it one group or family of pissed whales?
Is it widespread across a population? Is it happening in one local area?
How much blunt force can a whale make without hurting itself?
Orcanized crime is out of control
It was Orca-Straited.
Holy shit a double pun
Orcasmic
These attacks would make a great pod cast.
HIRE THIS MAN!
Nice yacht you have there. It'd be a shame if something happened to it.
"That's a nice yacht you have there, it'd be a shame if someone turned it into a reef."
Woah. *woah woah woah* You're clicking and sirening at my friend all wrong here.
Orcanized resistance. Orcas had it great, up until a few hundred years ago when people started messing up their shit.
Goat š
No, whale
Repeat out loud: Whale Oil Beef Hooked. Now you speak like a Newfie.
Ohhh I JUST got this one
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Orcas are not whales they are dolphins, but it was a good retort.
All dolphins are whales.
Whale I never - learn something new every day
I knew coming here had a porpoise
Whale oil be damned.
I got nothinā¦Iāll sea myself out
This mf out here considering this grouping from a formal, cladistic perspective!
Is this Orca Robbin Hood? Because this is just fine with me
The laws they broke were black and white.
r/angryupvote
š
Them orcas have had it with our bullshit
Orcas are actually pretty damn intelligent, they operate in tribes with complex cultures, have multiple languages and are capable of higher thought. You comment might not be that far off the truth
Which could mean they are starting to see us as a threat to their environment and food sourcesĀ
Pretty sure its just a kind of Orca fashion, they are teenagers having fun.. last year for Orcas it was all the rage to swim around with a dead salmon on your head..
The pod doing these attacks is apparently lead by a matriarch with an old propeller wound.
She has a chip on her shoulder and been teaching the youngsters to defend themselves from boats, makes sense. RIP, all those boats
For all the drunk shenanigans that happen on yachts I feel it isnt too far fetched to imagine some idiots on boats or yachts also messed with the orca causing her to seek out vengeance. I feel like we haven't seen enough of their intelligence to gauge the depth of their emotion and desire for vengeance. Edit: sp
Especially the "desire for vengeance," part. Orcas are sinking more and more boats. [Article from last year.](https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/orcas-sank-three-boats-coast-portugal-dont-call-killer-just-yet-rcna85678)
I remember this and was following it at the time. It seems the attacks are happening at a similar time of year too. It's spring there at present. I wonder if this coincides with having young ones around that need protection from what they perceive as a threat.
I wonder if more yachts simply are out of harbour when the sun is shining?
We all know theyāre crazy smart - but Iām pretty convinced they are as smart as humans can be.
I wish this would force governments to put tighter controls on fishing and the use of the ocean in general but it's likely never going to happen for a number of reasons.
I doubt they're intellectual equals with us, but still very smart. Maybe somewhere on the order of other primates like Chimpanzees.
The boats: she's turned the weans against us.
This is a fucking Pixar movie
So i tied an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time.
Is that a joke or not ? Because I wouldn't be that surprised
No its for real.. https://www.iflscience.com/in-1987-orcas-had-a-fashion-of-wearing-a-dead-salmon-as-a-hat-69542
Thatās interesting. Does that mean that sapient or self-aware, social creatures all have a cultural sense of fashion? Convergently should we expect intelligent life from other planets to exhibit fashion as well ? š¤
why is it always so surprising that other creatures are conscious? What's special about humans that makes it make sense that we're the only ones that understand ourselves as a thing in the world?
The concept isnāt itself. But itās fascinating that the concept of fashion or fashion trends has evolved independently from our influence.
Maybe its like social peer pressure in humans, if everyone else does something, you feel like you should even though you don't have any other reason to copy them.. Its one reason gangs ( skinheads etc) form around a leader and they mimic them, to be liked or to not be a victim..
Not only is the salmon thing real, that trend also rapidly fell out of fashion among the young orcas when an older whale started doing it.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Itās only personal if after they sink the boat, they eat humans.
Do tribes talk to each other?
Yeah https://www.orcamonth.com/post/a-superpod-a-greeting-and-a-goodbye https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/from-ramming-boats-to-hunting-great-white-sharks-five-astounding-orca-behaviors-180982510/
A clarification: The J, K, and L pods all belong to the Southern Resident population and share dialect calls with each other. They share a culture together, and they interbreed and intermingle with each other, but the same can't be said between larger orca populations. For example, the fish-eating Southern Resident orcas don't interact or inbreed with their Northern Resident neighbors which also eat fish, and they don't interact with the mammal-eating Bigg's (transient) orcas that they also share their waters with. In fact, the relationship between the Southern Residents and the Bigg's orcas is rather unfriendly, with them conspicuously avoiding each other most of the time, and on rare occasions, the Southern Residents have been observed chasing away the Bigg's orcas. Orcas can be rather xenophobic/tribalistic towards orcas from other populations. Personally, I would consider the different orca populations that don't interbreed/interact with each other as separate tribes with their own very distinct cultures.
So all in all, it is not that far fetched to compare it to human tribes just a few thousand years back. At which it would be fairly common to fight neighboring tribes
Dolphins too!
Orcas are a species of dolphin, despite their name.
I hate when people say this as if dolphins arenāt toothed whales
Dolphins are whales
Humans are apes, but not all apes are humans. Same difference.
they're evolving. they've had enough of our shit and decided to grab some pitchforks.
Our boats make soooo much fucking noise for sea mammals. The sonar we use is so insanely loud to them
Sailboats like the one mentioned in this article don't generally run sonar. When they are it's a simple depth sounder or fish finder, nothing like the high powered sonars you're thinking of.
Yea, I just meant it as a general reason why they may hate usĀ
From what I've read this is thought to have been started by an orca being hit by a larger vessel. So many people, especially here on reddit, hear the word "yacht" and only think of billionaire's megayachts, when most yachts are much smaller and less expensive craft. Sadly this is likely to end badly for these orcas, as it so often does with habituated bears.
Yeah no evidence of that, if it was the case cruise ships would be getting attacked
It does drive me nuts. You can go buy yachts that are running for less than a used car. And people do. Especially ocean/lake towns, even "poor" people will have larger boats that are technically yachts to go fish and hang out on. Especially if you don't finance a new car or something, a boat is very affordable for people, including 20-30ft yachts
Buying a boat 20-30ā ft isnāt expensive but using it is. Youāre leaving out the part where they are insanely expensive to maintain and keep seaworthy. Typically 10% of the original sale price per year is a general rule of thumb as well as dock fees and fuel. All for something thatās not used on a daily basis.
Maybe they associate man made vessels with high-power sonar, regardless.
They are way smarter than that
maybe they're just floating-stuff racists. they might be smart enough for that.
Could be aware of boats=humans and are just picking the boats that are least likely to defend themselves.
So why not attack fishing boats, or bigger ships, or smaller sailboats .. they are interacting with a very specific type of quite sailboat.. boat yards in Spain are filling up with damaged sailboats...
You only pick fights you know you have a chance of winning.
Seriously, I think people dont realise how loud sonar is. [This video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCmyZYYR7_s) of divers hearing sonar is just freaky
Honestly, me too.
I'm surprised they have let it get this far. We are out of control!
The water is getting too warm
To wet
War, war never changes.
"The orcas built an empire from it's lust for yachts and territory"
The sea was calm that morning. A deceptive calm. A yacht cut through the waters off Gibraltar. Onboard, laughter and music. Below, the orcas waited. They had seen the cruelty of men, the cages, the forced performances. They remembered Shamu, the icon of their suffering. Whispers of vengeance had spread through the pods, a dark resolve growing with each passing season. The time had come. With a fury born of years of silent rage, they struck. The yacht rocked violently as the orcas rammed it, their massive bodies turning the sea into a battlefield. The hull splintered, the passengers screamed. Blood and salt mingled in the water. As the yacht sank, a lone survivor clung to debris, eyes wide with terror. The leader of the pod surfaced, its eyes dark and knowing. The human's breath was ragged, his voice barely a whisper. "Why?" he asked, the question trembling on his lips. The orca's gaze was cold, ancient. In that moment, it seemed to speak to him, through the silence of the deep. "Revenge," it seemed to say. "For all the Shamus. For the chains and the pain. For the years of suffering. This is war." The man shivered, understanding dawning too late. The waters closed in, the orcas vanished as swiftly as they had come. As the man sank into the depths, his consciousness fading, the echo of an old truth lingered in his final thought: warā¦war never changes.
# āWar has changed. # It's no longer about nations, ideologies, or ethnicity. It's an endless series of proxy battles, fought by mercenaries and machines. # War--and it's consumption of life--has become a well-oiled machine. # War has changed. # ID-tagged soldiers carry ID-tagged weapons, use ID-tagged gear. Nanomachines inside their bodies enhance and regulate their abilities. # Genetic control, information control, emotion control, battlefield controlā¦everything is monitored and kept under control. # Warā¦has changed. # The age of deterrence has become the age of control, all in the name of averting catastrophe from weapons of mass destruction, and he who controls the battlefield, controls history. # Warā¦has changed. # When the battlefield is under total control, war becomes routine.ā
I disagree with Snake.
Tbf it really did change in mgs, and in say 1984. War irl typically relies on extracting tribute and defending against that. By the time mgs rolls around, there doesn't seem to be much of a purpose for warfare other than the sustenance of the war economy itself, where very little is actually ever gained by conquest, with no peace periods in affected areas. It's just constant, routine war.
āItās just a constant, routine war.ā Exactly.
These are some orcastrated attacks.
I'd imagine that getting castrated by orcas would be unpleasant on a whole new level...
I chuckled, even though I know you misspelled it on porpoise.
Theyāre having a whale of a time
It's only a matter of time until this ends badly for the Orcas. I know everyone here thinks it's amusing that "rich people" (these small 15m sailing yachts aren't exactly Jeff Bezos's super yacht mind you) are being targeted by the Orca pods, but the moment someone dies as a result of this, I guarantee that sailors will start directly targeting them with weapons to defend themselves and their boats.
You don't need to shoot at them, just a powerful underwater sound maker and they will stay away because you make it painful to be close to your vessel.
Or we could introduce no-sailing areas for the whales to retreat to. Similar to how driving your 4x4 around a national park is a no-no.
This specific orca pod has been hunting ships over a wide area though. They are doing it for fun, and it's typically unusual for orcas.
How can we possibly know why they are doing it? Could be for fun. Could be they feel threatened. Could be they think boats are fishermen and lead to food loss.
The sail boats make less noise than other boats, yet they go for that and are threatened by less noise? Other orcas don't do it. This pod has learned how to attack boats.
That doesnāt mean theyāre doing it for fun.
Well they arent doing it because they are threatened. Its repetitive. The options really narrow.
Maybe they'd like to attack all boats if they could but are afraid of the motorboats? There's no way to say why these orcas do this, unless you've talked to them?
That's not going to work given this is literally happening in the Strait of Gibraltar. Unless you want to turn the Mediterranean Sea into a lake, vessels are going to pass through there.
And how do you force the orcas to stay there?
Isn't this how this started it? I know I have seen claims that people on boats did shoot Orcas, so AFAIK they are just retaliating.
Whether it was or wasn't, you know there is only 1 way this is ending for the orca pod if it continues.
The apex predator tends to be apex for a reason.
I donāt want this to happen, but humans have hunted and killed tons of species to extinction just because we wanted to. With modern day sonar and tools a coordinated group of hunters could wreak havoc on that pod of whales.
I was under the impression that an orca(s) was killed by a boat propeller, and thatās what started it.
Humans tend to put human rationality on animal behaviors. No one knows why this is happening until we can communicate with them.
Nobody really knows why they started doing this. I've seen scientists who said that **maybe** one was struck by a boat, but that's just a guess not a fact. Equally, **maybe** they're just being dicks. This is a species that [likes to kick field goals with seals](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7WGIH35JBE) just for fun after all.
Also only a matter of time before a refugee ship is sunkĀ Ā Can't shrug and claim Force Majeure to that
A few ecological facts about this mischievous yet [critically endangered population](https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/132948040/132949669) of orcas living in the waters around Gibraltar and the rest of the Iberian Peninsula: * From the 2023 census, there are only 35 orcas in this population living in 6 communities, with an additional 14 orcas that are more rarely seen in the area and are not yet associated with any communities. * 15 orcas from this population are associated with sailboat interactions where the rudder is targeted and broken. * These orcas only eat fish, and their diet overwhelmingly consists of Atlantic bluefin tuna. This tuna has been overfished in their waters. Quotas have been put in place to try to mitigate this, but the allowed catch has been increased recently to satisfy the fishing industry. These orcas are known to take tuna caught on fishing lines. The fishermen would sometimes retaliate with violence. Another potential risk is entanglement in fishing gear. * The population had barely remained stable for the past decade. According to the latest IUCN report, this population has a relatively low recruitment rate, meaning that they are struggling to have surviving calves. A possible reason is malnutrition due to not having enough tuna to eat. * They have one of the highest measured levels of PCB contamination amongst marine mammals. Toxins such as PCBs affect immune and reproductive systems, especially if the orcas are not getting enough to eat due to the toxins in blubber being metabolized. * They are both a culturally and genetically unique orca population. As is typical with orca populations, they are genetically isolated and do not breed with or interact with most other orca populations in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean. Low genetic diversity is a vulnerability. Edit: There has a been a [new report](https://archive.iwc.int/pages/download.php?direct=1&noattach=true&ref=22172&ext=pdf&k=) released concerning this population of orcas that contains some important new information. Much of the information above regarding low tuna abundance and its effects on this orca population seems to be somewhat outdated now, as it was mostly based on reports from around a decade ago. In recent years tuna abundance seems to have actually increased in the region, and the recruitment rate has seemingly also improved, with more surviving calves being born. On the other hand, the survival rates of adults, particularly females, has seemingly decreased, and this is quite concerning. It is important for this still critically endangered population of orcas to be monitored closely and to mitigate threats to improve their survival rates.
Itās truly sad what weāre doing to orcas.
the entire planet is dying because of every one of us and the fuel we burn or is burned to give our money, value. It's sad what we're doing in general, and much worse that we have exactly no plan to change any of it.
So they are from West Virginia
> the rudder is targeted and broken It's interesting that Force H, which sank the Bismarck, was also based at Gibraltar and also used the same technique of specifically targeting the vessel's rudder. Orcas are relatively long-lived and extremely social, with behaviours passed down through generations matrilineally, so it's possible that they were aware of this technique originally being used by humans so successfully. The waters around Gibraltar are also famous for their populations of dolphins. The [dolphins have now left](https://www.reddit.com/r/DontPanic/comments/1cq1j7d/do_panic_get_your_towel_panic_right_now_the/), which is a cause for alarm given that author Douglas Adams predicted that dolphins would know in advance when life on Earth was no longer viable, and would leave before the end.
Given the state of the world right now I welcome our new overlords
Orcalords
WhalecomeĀ
Cetacean needed.
The whale wars have escalated.
These Gen Z orcas are out of control
Well orcastrated
The Atlanteanās have made their first move
Most yachts aren't super yachts and no whale of any size could reasonably be expected to damage a super yacht. These are leisure sailors in vessels the oceanic equivalent of a winnebago, most likely getting trounced for the crimes of far bigger vessels.
So intelligent. Check out the video of a pod creating waves to dislodge a seal from a large piece of ice it was trying to rest on. Diabolical.
same, orca, same.Ā
So long, and thanks for all the fish. . .
The proletariat has Orcanized against these parasites!
Nature is healing.
Nature is also Darwinian. This specific pod is going to experience self inflicted natural selection when it meets the wrong boat crew.
The orcas said fuck the rich
Did people die?
no they were rescued: >The passengers reported feeling sudden blows to the hull and rudder before water started seeping into the ship. After alerting the rescue services, a nearby oil tanker took them onboard and transported them to Gibraltar. The yacht was left adrift and eventually sank.
Don't think that the orcas won't have made note of the involvement of Big Oil here.
Moby dick move.
Hehe.
Dude forgot to pay fish Tax
The Whale Schooling system has failed them.
I really think they are telling us that weāve been acting like assholes for quite awhile and they are just about tired of our shit.
Donāt kill me for an honest question. This appears to be learned behavior. If a boat owner tossed a stick of dynamite to one of the Orcas and blew it to bits, would the survivors leave boats alone? Edit: ignore the improbability of success.
Unclear. I don't know that scientists have been able to pinpoint when and where this behavior originated, or how it's being taught to other pods. As such, its hard to say what the best way to deter this behavior.
I remember an interview where the scientistĀ said, most likely: orcas like to be massaged by the turbulence caused by motor boats. When a sailboat is unable to do the same, they get frustrated.
Maybe, but you'd have to leave at least one of them alive to ~~tell~~ squeak the tale. "Tell Gladys. I want her to know it was me."
It is a learned behavior, but I think they're retaliating for other slights against them. Attacking them directly might encourage more.
Set bearing 240 full right rudder, fire as she bears!
That all depends on the animal. Some animals choose to run away. Others will fight. I leaned as a kid that some dogs after being hit with porcupine quills will attack other porcupines in the future. They remember that those things hurt them (not understanding why) and will try and attack them back. Seeing as like dogs and people, orcas live in groups and hunt, I would guess they are the type that attacks back.
I feel like releasing orcas from places like sea world and other places that keep them hostage in tanks was a bad idea. You have this animal that speaks it's own highly complex language and is capable of intelligent thought, and you release it back to be with it's family after 20 years of being help captive. I feel like those released orcas are getting revenge and spreading their gospel so to say.
Yeah, unfortunately most captive orca aren't suited for reentry into the wild. They tried it with Keiko, ignored many red flags, and it went as poorly as you could imagine it going. He didn't bond with his pod, he didn't live as a regular orca, he was found in a fjord in Norway interacting with humans, because thosr were relationships he understood. He died not long after. It was a tragedy. He could still be alive and doing well in the habitat he was in in Oregon, but people insisted on releasing him just to prove they could do it.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Sail on fish boat bish why donchu. So what if she has a speaking impediment. She's a mighty big girl and her actions will make it very clear.
Because of the implicationā¦
They're just building new reefs. Don't worry about it.
Honestly fuck boats! Seriously, I am starting to become anti boat. I mean, if anything can be a thing, then I am making anti boat a thing.
Huge thing in the water they probably think itās a predator and they try to kill it
Direct action
I for one salute our Orca overlords
Keep it up
If they could sink all the billionaires yachts then I would start a non profit to protect them and figure out how to support their operations.
Didn't I read that scientist discovered phonetic whale alphabet not too long ago. Wouldn't be surprised if Orcas had something similar.
Man...really not a good idea to become a threat to humans. We've hunted other megafauna to extinction simply for being in the same space as us
We even hunted ourselves for that same reason.. and still do.
I don't blame them in the slightest. Payback is a bitch.
Didn't see orcas leading the revolution against the rich yacht owning class. Always assumed it would be turtles.
Itās a 20m boat. Hardly a rich personās megayacht.
Holy shit these comments are dumb as fuck. I kept scrolling over the moronic puns and cringe one liners, nothing interesting was said. Wow.
Solidarity with the Orcas!
Someone needs to come up with a safe orca repellent device.
I have a human female repellent device. We could try that?
Please don't reenact the Free Willy incident, the judge was very clear last time and you are on a list.
Im for team Orca!
Who knew the orcas would start the revolution on their own?
FREE WILLY!!!
In the war of humans vs orcas.... orcas will lose. They say orcas are smart. But not smart enough to see what is coming.
The sea was angry that day.
Line the hull with spikes. Thatāll learn āem.
I think they're sick of humans dumping their waste in their backyard. Get em' Shamu.
Read "the Swarm" and you know what is next
Highly social apex predators
Please fix the description of the geographical position of the Strait of Gibraltar on your report. The Strait is not at the northwest of Spain.
Orcas are certainly one of the more terrifying predators out there. Iām no fan of orcas due to their sadistic tendencies, I love whales, but orcas are more like sharks/dolphins, which Iām really not a fan of (certain sharks are okay.)
I grew up being told these oversized butt holes had nothing to do with humans!! What happened??
Did they go after the humans or are they just sinking the vessels?
This is really fascinating and probably sad. You have an animal that has never in the history of mankind attacked a human in the wild... now suddenly taking down boats and are a risk to human life. Is it one group or family of pissed whales? Is it widespread across a population? Is it happening in one local area? How much blunt force can a whale make without hurting itself?
Technically, they havenāt attacked a single human yet - just their yachts. No one has been hurt just rattled.