During the last few days, several vessels on the Iberian coast have experienced a little-known and explored event: confrontations with orca whales, also known as killer whales. What has been referred to in various media as “orca revenge” or “orca attack,” is actually a little-studied but not-so-new behavior in this region.
Some of the explanations that point to solving this mysterious behavior lie in an unfortunate encounter between a female orca whale and a boat in May 2020. From that date on, the constant confrontation between these marine animals and boats has been observed specifically in the Strait of Gibraltar, but…
What Happens Between Orca Whales and Boats?
According to an explanation shared on the social network of marine educator and psychologist Vanessa Prigollini, the current behavior of the orca whale population could be explained as a trend. Still, no expert can say for sure why these events are happening since we are totally unable to decipher the thoughts of a killer whale.
In this sense, these events could not be categorized as “attacks,” “rebellion,” and much less “revenge.” These definitions are based on human speculation. So far, it is not possible to decipher the motivations of orca whales, therefore, a why is not defined.
Orca whales have been shown to go through and experience many diverse processes according to their location, food, environment, etc. In the case of the orca whale population on the Iberian coast, some experts point out that it could be part of an act of curiosity. At least this is also the opinion of the specialist Vanessa Prigollini.
We Don’t Know Why, but We Do Know How?
Although we cannot say for sure why this behavior occurs, it is a fact that the orca whales on the Iberian coast are learning from each other to repeat these events. Social learning works very well among them; in fact, their teaching bond is one of the strongest in the ocean, and thanks to it, generations of orca whales manage to survive.
Understanding the how rather than the why reveals even more impressive abilities of these majestic creatures. Perhaps we should pay more attention to our role in their habitat and how our actions might come to harm their existence.
Story published in Spanish in Ecoosfera
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