'It began with a female in K-Pod carrying around a dead salmon in 1987, spread to the other two pods in the southern resident community over a 5–6 week period and then stopped. In a 2004 study, researchers from Dalhousie University explained: 'An example is the "dead-salmon carrying" fad of the well-studied "southern resident", fish-eating, orcas of the Puget Sound area of the northeast Pacific. Other examples of temporary cultural fads in teenage orcas include playing with prawn and crab traps, and wearing dead fish on their heads as hats. Researchers believe that the attacks are being carried out by just a few young male orcas, and could simply be another temporary cultural fad. However, that wouldn't explain an encounter off the coast of Spain last year, in which orcas attacked a boat with its propeller in motion. When the animals experience a propeller that isn't in motion, 'they get kind of frustrated and that's why they break ,' de Stephanis added. Speaking to NPR, Renaud de Stephanis, president and coordinator at CIRCE Conservación Information and Research, explained: 'What we think is that they're asking to have the propeller in the face.' 'One ended with the sinking of a boat and the rescuing of five crew members. 'There were two orca "attacks" in the early morning of Sunday July 31 near Sines,' writes Portugal Resident. Meanwhile, last month, two boats were reportedly sunk by orcas off the coast of Portugal. The attack left the yacht's rudder so damaged that Ms Storkson and her father were forced to cut their trip short and carefully make for land at Brest. giving us the impression that it was a coordinated attack.' Speaking to NPR, she said: 'They were ramming the boat. They also deliberately broke the rudder to disable the yacht.Įster Kristine Storkson, a medical student from Norway, also experienced a pod of orcas 'ramming' her father's yacht off the coast of France. The experienced sailors retreated below deck and radioed for help before enduring 90 minutes of harassment from the animals as they repeatedly shunted the hull of the boat.
Last year, a British sailor was surrounded by a pod of killer whales which tried to capsize his boat.Īlan Bruce, 63, was manning a 44ft sailing yacht in the Gibraltar Strait with Frenchman Stephen Peare, 49, when four orcas suddenly began ramming and rocking the vessel.