Orcas | 31 Aug 2024

Source: IE

Recently, a group of Orcas had attacked a sailboat off the coast of Spain. Since 2020, over 700 interactions between orcas and boats near the Strait of Gibraltar have been recorded.

  • Theories Behind Orca Behavior:
    • Playful Behaviour: Some scientists believe orcas may be targeting boats as a form of play, where young orcas learn and repeat new behaviours.
    • Traumatic Response: Some scientists theorise that a traumatic event, like getting tangled in fishing lines, might have triggered aggressive behaviour in orcas.
      • Some scientists suspect that a female orca (White Gladis), went through a similar traumatising experience, which altered her behaviour.
  • About Orcas: Orcas, or killer whales, are the largest member of the dolphin family.
    • They use echolocation to communicate and hunt.
      • Echolocation is a technique used by bats, dolphins and other animals to determine the location of objects using reflected sound.
  • Each Orcas group (pod) has distinctive noises that its members will recognise even at a distance.
  • They are apex predators with diverse diets, consuming fish, penguins, seals, sea lions, and even whales, using four-inch-long teeth.

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