SAN DIEGO — Experts believe a killer whale named White Gladis is responsible for starting a series of boat attacks off the Iberian peninsula. However, experts are divided over the reason behind the attacks.
Scary encounters first began in 2020 and have increased over the last several years.
Researchers believe White Gladis not only started the so-called attacks on boats but has even taught others in her group to do the same.
The question many have been trying to answer is ‘why’ – could it be revenge or just a little wave of fun?
In one dramatic video an orca is seen slamming into a boat off the coast of Spain, startling unsuspecting passengers. The video was taken recently and it is part of a string of other similar encounters.
In some cases, the orcas caused enough damage to sink boats and have even been seen pulling off the rudder.
Experts speculate there are two main theories about why whales are going after boats.
Some believe the orcas are seeking revenge but two experts CBS 8 spoke to say that’s pure speculation. Instead, they believe it could all just be part of a game.
“That’s a human pastime, killer whales don’t do revenge. It's definitely getting to be a problem, but it seems to me these are just killer whales having fun," said Robert Pitman, a marine ecologist.
“Whales, they don’t think as we do, it’s totally different environment so we can't really put human terms to it. but a playful thing seems like something they’d do," said Marine Biologist for Monterey Bay Whale Watch, Nancy Black.
Experts believe, the behavior all started with White Gladis, who they say was pregnant when she began wreaking havoc.
“She might’ve learned how to do that and then her youngsters imitated her and others followed as well," said Black.
Both Nancy Black, a marine biologist and Director of the California Killer Whale Project, and Robert Pitman, a professor at Oregon State University, say it’s likely the others in White Gladis’s group are copying her behavior.
“It seems like a good number of them are youngsters so that indicates they found a game," said Black. "There’s not many objects in the ocean for them to play with and since they’re so intelligent maybe the rudder is another one of those objects."
"They are curious and playful and they learn from each other and if one of them starts to do something, and it's fun and interesting it’ll be passed around the pod fairly quickly," said Pitman.
Researchers say killer whale encounters have been on the rise since 2020.
There were more than 200 encounters reported in 2022. This year, 93 have been reported so far.
Black believes people are just paying closer attention
“I don’t think that there are more sightings I think that people are reporting them more and are interested in it a lot more than they used to be," she added.
Despite the damage to boats, no humans have been hurt in any of the encounters.
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