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Team JAJO had some special –– and terrifying –– visitors while sailing in the Strait of Gibraltar as part of the 2023 Ocean Race on Thursday. A group of orcas, otherwise known as killer whales, surrounded the Dutch crew’s yacht, first circling the boat and then ramming into it. “This was a scary moment,” Jelmer van Beek, Team JAJO skipper, said, according to the Associated Press. “Three orcas came straight at us and started hitting the rudders. Impressive to see the orcas, beautiful animals, but also a dangerous moment for us as a team.” Some of Team JAJO’s crew banged...

Scientists think a traumatized orca initiated the assault on boats after a "critical moment of agony" and that the behavior is spreading among the population through social learning.Orcas have mainly directed their efforts at sailboats, making a beeline for the rudder. (Image credit: Shutterstock) Orcas have attacked and sunk a third boat off the Iberian coast of Europe, and experts now believe the behavior is being copied by the rest of the population. Three orcas (Orcinus orca), also known as killer whales, struck the yacht on the night of May 4 in the Strait of Gibraltar, off the coast...

Crew members with the Pacific Whale Watch Association (PWWA) observed a rare, aggressive confrontation between a group of Bigg's orca whales and a pair of humpback whales spotted in the waters near the western Canada-U.S. border. On Sept. 29, crew members on an Eagle Wing Tours whale-watching boat encountered the orcas first. The boat discovered around 15 orca whales "being unusually active at the surface," according to a PWWA press release. Another whale-watching boat discovered two humpback whales interacting with the orcas shortly afterward, the association added. "According to observers who came and went throughout the day, the encounter included...

A pair of orcas killing great white sharks by ripping open their torsos for their livers — and as a result scaring away great whites from a South African region — has raised questions about whether that could happen along Cape Cod. But it’s “really too early to say” if killer whales will descend upon the Massachusetts coast and drive away the growing great white shark population, a local shark expert tells the Herald. “When there have been orca sightings here through the years, they’ve never really seemed to impact the white sharks in the area,” said John Chisholm, who...

There’s a new type of killer whale that prowls deeper waters and specializes in hunting big game, new research by a B.C. scientist suggests. ...But evidence indicates there’s a newly identified type of orca — outer coast killer whales — that are a distinct subgroup of transient whales, and which frequent the ocean depths along the continental shelf off the coast of central California and Oregon, said lead author Josh McInnes, a scientist with the Marine Mammal Research Unit at the University of British Columbia. Once believed to be part of the larger West Coast population, these outer coast killer...

A distressed killer whale has been filmed banging her head against a tank at an enclosure after outliving her five babies. The heart-breaking footage was taken by anti-captivity activists at MarineLand, Niagara Falls earlier this month and shared on social media. 'Anti-captivity activists entered MarineLand and observed Kiska, their last surviving orca bashing her head against the wall. ... The 44-year-old orca was born off the coast of Iceland and has been in captivity since 1979, according to Demers. She has spent the last 10 years alone after outliving her tank mates, including her five offspring....

The study monitored the movements of 165 great white sharks near Farallon island and documented four encounters between visiting orcas and resident sharksFor years, the great white shark has been believed to be the ocean’s most feared predator. But when five shark carcasses washed ashore on a beach in South Africa’s Western Cape province in 2017, livers chomped from their bodies, a new question loomed in marine researcher’s minds — could the predator be prey? Scientists examined the bite marks under the pectoral fins of the dead sharks and found that they matched only one other oceanic species — the...

Just when you think orcas couldn't possible be any more awesome, they get even better. A study in 2019 showed these whales are really good at scaring off the most feared beast in the sea. Yep. Orcas have toppled the great white shark off their 'apex predator' throne. A team of marine scientists found that great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) will make themselves extremely scarce whenever they detect the presence of orcas (Orcinus orca). "When confronted by orcas, white sharks will immediately vacate their preferred hunting ground and will not return for up to a year, even though the orcas...

Typically orcas don't show up in Monterey until April and May but this year something different is happening.Spectacular video from local outfitter Monterey Bay Whale Watch shows orca action in the Monterey Bay on Friday. The whale watching outfitter's owner and marine biologist Nancy Black said her crews came across two killer whale pods. Making for some happy tourists. Advertisement "Killer whales are the top everybody is hoping to see them," said Black. On Monday the orcas were nowhere to be seen. "One humpback whale and they said 11 gray whales," said whale watcher Michelle Chen about what she saw...

At the bottom of the world, in some of the roughest seas, live mysterious killer whales that look very different from other orcas. Now, for the first time, scientists have located and studied these animals in the wild. The orcas are “highly likely” to be a new species, says Robert Pitman, a researcher with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The scientific team made the finding in January about 60 miles off the coast of Cape Horn, Chile..

A rare sighting in the animal kingdom continues to mesmerize marine biologists and whale watchers in the Monterey Bay. For the fourth day in a row, whale watchers on Sunday spotted an abnormally large pod of killer whales feasting on the carcasses of two gray whales, according to Nancy Black from Monterey Bay Whale Watch. Killer whales are famous for their violent attacks and relentless feeding practices, but to see this type of behavior and this amount of mammal-eating creatures just off the coast of Monterey is "pretty rare," Black said. "This won't happen everyday," she said. The first gray...

SeaWorld announced on Thursday it would ends its killer whale breeding program, and those currently at its parks would be the last. The Orlando-based theme park has faced dwindling attendance and years of criticism over its treatment of the captive marine mammals as well as pressure from animal rights activists to end public exhibition of killer whales altogether. SeaWorld, which operates parks in San Diego, Orlando and San Antonio, said in November it would replace its signature 'Shamu' killer whale shows in San Diego with displays focused on conservation.

Sea lion goes flying in video: Guests aboard an Anglers Adventures charter out of Ketchikan got to see more than just scenery Friday morning when their vessel, the F/V Sierra Dawn, attracted a sea lion being stalked by an orca.

A pod of killer whales appears to be trapped in a small pool of water surrounded by ice in Hudson’s Bay. In a number of videos shot by local residents near Inukjuak, Que., the whales are seen taking turns continuously coming up for air. The first video was posted on Tuesday on Facebook by local residents to try to get the attention of authorities to help the whales who appear to be in distress. It is believed the orcas became stranded on Monday and are still there.

Whale-watching tourists off western Australia saw more than they expected - and perhaps more than many of them wanted - last week. As two boats of observers took in the action, a humpback whale mother desperately and vainly tried to protect a calf from four predatory orcas. The video below, shot from a light aircraft that circled overhead as the action unfolded, isn't always easy to make out, but it shows the orcas circling as the humpback attempts to protect the calf by lifting it on to her back. (If you pause the video at about 12 seconds, you can...

The killer whale who mauled and drowned a female trainer at Orlando's SeaWorld last year will begin performing in front of crowds again on Wednesday. Tilikum will participate in the park's main killer whale show, titled "Believe," SeaWorld officials said. The whale has not performed since Feb. 24, 2010, when he snatched trainer Dawn Brancheau from a shallow pool ledge and thrashed her around underwater, killing the 40-year-old in front of a horrified audience. The deaths made headlines worldwide, led SeaWorld to spend millions making safety upgrades and sparked federal and civil lawsuits against the water park. SeaWorld Animal Training...

A boatload of watchers got their money's worth when they witnessed a rare encounter of eight killer whales killing and feasting on a sea lion off the Southern California coast. Video taken Tuesday by Capt. Dave's Dolphin & Whale Safari shows the the orcas playing and eating in front of passengers on a charter cruise near Dana Point. Capt. Dave Anderson says it was the first time in two years he has seen a killer whale off the Orange County coast. Anderson says one of the whales swam up to the whale-watching boat and stared into the window of the...

About a week before the 2008 election, Tom Brokaw sat in front of Charlie Rose on PBS stating we really don’t know much about Barack Obama. The two then exchanged back and forth all the things the mainstream media failed to ask Obama or dig up as we headed into the election just a few days later. This was the sad assessment of the state of the media and its bias leading into election day. The mainstream media failed to report on Obama’s college days, his birth certificate, his drug use, his associations with Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers, Frank Marshall...

Experienced whale trainer Dawn Brancheau died in an incident at SeaWorld Orlando on Wednesday afternoon while working with a killer whale. Facts about killer whales such as those found at the Orlando theme park include: •Tillikum (nicknamed Tilly), the whale involved in Wednesday's death at SeaWorld Orlando, is considered the largest orca in captivity, weighing in at nearly 12,000 pounds. He has lived at the Orlando theme park since 1992. •" Shamu" is merely a stage name that SeaWorld parks use for any adult whale — male or female — in a park show. •Adult killer whales at SeaWorld parks...

”I did it to punish the rich white people of Orcas Island and make them pay for the death of the whales and the depletion of the rain forests” -Mondragon Gabriel Thomas Mondragon, 29 years old, who recently arrived from New Mexico, explained to Sheriff’s Deputies that in an attempt to make the people on Orcas “suffer just like the whales and trees”, he attempted to use a tree limbing saw -on a metal pole- to cut through a 69,000 volt power line. According to the sheriff’s report, the man, identified as Gabriel Mondragon, also stated he wanted to protest...