More than 500 attacks in 3 years! Have killer whales declared war on humanity? (7 photos)

This spring, stories began to appear on news sites about a gang of killer whales that sank a yacht off the coast of Spain. They dealt with the ship extremely competently: young killer whales tormented the ship’s rudder, depriving people of control, while the adult rammed the side until it broke through.





Wait, two-legged. I'll finish the crab and take care of you.

And a couple of months later, a video surfaced online in which sailors actually had to shoot at sea animals.



A shot from the same attacked yacht. Luckily for the owner, she sank long enough for the coast guard to evacuate him.

Our editor told me these two facts. She also gave a strict order to find out: have the killer whales declared war on humanity? At first glance - they announced, and what else! Since 2020, killer whales have made more than 500 attacks on boats, boats and even small ships. In most cases, the animals were scared away, or they left on their own. But at least 3 vessels are now resting on the ocean floor. It's good that there were no deaths. For now.





Map of killer whale attacks for the first half of 2023. Pay attention to the number of marks!

And the most offensive thing is that we still don’t know what caused such an aggressive reaction. It seems that with their actions, killer whales have piled up work for cetologists (cetacean researchers) for years to come. However, they already have two hypotheses, which will be worked out in more detail in the future.



Isn't she preparing for an attack by any chance?

The most popular hypothesis is that killer whales are just crazy about fat. Their intelligence and enormous physical strength have made them adaptive and highly efficient predators. Killer whales have developed a variety of hunting techniques that allow them to feed on everything from fish to dolphins to baby whales. There is plenty of food around them, which does not require much time and effort. This is where gaming behavior comes to the fore.



“Stasyan, go down into the water, we won’t touch you!” “Right now, killer whales are using their extraordinary intelligence to get food for themselves.

Like us, killer whales get a lot of pleasure from disassembling things into their component parts. Like us, they know how to learn from each other. Therefore, the fashion for acts of vandalism towards ships quickly spread among Spanish marine animals. Moreover, the hooligans never got hit with their hats. Few people carry around weapons that can harm a monster weighing up to 8 tons.



As you understand, clapping and sticks will not scare away such a colossus.

But there is another, more unpleasant hypothesis. According to her, killer whales are really at odds with us. In 2019, the female killer whale Lamari was injured at human hands. It was an accident, but it didn’t make her any easier. And everything would be fine, but this lady is respected. Her descendants live in the three largest flocks, whose representatives were convicted of robbery.



Grandma Lamari's family tree.

For killer whales, family connections are very important. They remember their relatives throughout their lives, even if fate has separated them into different packs. Therefore, we can assume that Lamari's children and grandchildren could see her negativity towards boats and were imbued with the same emotions. But it is extremely difficult to prove this option. After all, to do this, we essentially need to determine the presence of evil intent inside a mind that is strikingly different from ours.