Posted on 07/30/2026 4:43:13 PM PDT by BenLurkin
A pod of killer whales has sunk another yacht off northwestern Spain, reinforcing a bizarre pattern of vessel encounters that has stretched on for more than six years along the Iberian coast.
In the incident, reported Friday (July 24), the whales destroyed the rudder of a 46-foot-long Swedish-flagged yacht off Galicia in northwestern Spain, forcing the two people aboard to send a mayday call. A Spanish coastguard vessel towed them to safety...
The incident came after several other encounters in the same waters earlier that week, including one in which a pleasure craft called the Idem sank near Estaca de Bares, the northernmost point of the Iberian Peninsula...after the killer whales, also known as orcas (Orcinus orca), destroyed its rudder.
...
Researchers have identified roughly 15 individual killer whales involved in these incidents, out of an Iberian subpopulation of fewer than 50. The group is so small that the International Union for Conservation of Nature lists it as critically endangered, as it is dependent mainly on Atlantic bluefin tuna for its food.
The family-like cluster is thought to be led by a female known as White Gladis. That name comes from an early theory researchers themselves once floated: that White Gladis suffered some kind of traumatic run-in with a boat and that the encounter flipped a behavioral switch, with her being the first in the group to start ramming rudders.
...
So why do orcas go after the boats?
Orcas are some of the most social animals on the planet, and social animals pick up habits from one another the way trends spread through a friend group. Researchers describe the behavior as socially learned — young orcas appear to watch adults ram a rudder and then try it themselves, and the habit has spread through the group over time.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
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Because it’s fun?
Are these Islamic whales?
Too bad they don’t go after the smaller, stinky, crowded boats.
In the incident, the whales destroyed the rudder of the yacht, forcing the two people aboard to send a mayday call. A Spanish coastguard vessel towed them to safety...
So....... The "sunk" yacht was towed to safety???
This publication is called Live Science.
Perhaps "Live Science" could use a "live" editor!
C'mon, Man!
Call them Mamdani Whales.
Just let The Whales alone to eat fish.
Jeez, why can’t they be left alone?
Do they get a vote?
Shoot them.
They want you to jump in the water so they can play with you.
Like they play with seals.
The Outlaw Josie Whales.
“Too bad they don’t go after the smaller, stinky, crowded boats.”
I wonder if they can be trained?
6 Years ???
Orca’s have been attacking boats for as long as humans have been on the sea... This isn’t a recent phenomena... It’s a long standing behavior which resulted in the common term for this whale... The ‘Killer Whale’. Unlike the ‘Right Whale’... A whale which in Northern latitudes is near extinction, because it was the ‘right whale’ to catch because of it’s stupidity... The Killer Whale is a very intelligent creature that prefers to hunt, rather than be hunted.
Different boat was sunk............
“...including one in which a pleasure craft called the Idem sank near Estaca de Bares...”
“So why do orcas go after the boats?”
Because airplanes fly too high.
“Too bad they don’t go after the smaller, stinky, crowded boats.”
Orcas can be trained...
Bring out the sharks with friggin laser beams.
Or ill-tempered sea bass.
Maybe they are tired of the propeller damage suffered by their kindred in the past.
Because of the appetizers they have gotten used to...?
“...killer whale has sunk another yacht...
...A Spanish coastguard vessel towed them to safety...”
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Sensational Headline Alert!
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