'We completely freaked out': Orcas are attacking boats in Europe again

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Iberian orcas have damaged several boats off the coast of Spain in recent weeks, leaving authorities scrambling to rescue stranded crews.

A photograph of an orca swimming at the surface in the Strait of Gibraltar, between the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa.
Orcas have been damaging sailing boats off the Iberian Peninsula since 2020. This stock photo shows an orca swimming in the Strait of Gibraltar, between the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa. (Image credit: Emmanuel Gaifami via Getty Images)

Orcas along the Spanish coast are attacking boats once again, leaving destroyed rudders and stranded crews in their wake.

A small population of orcas (Orcinus orca), or killer whales, has developed a penchant for damaging boats off the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe in recent years. Researchers are still studying this behavior, but they think the orcas are likely being playful rather than aggressive.

The Pontevedra Civil Guard, a Spanish law enforcement agency, shared a video of the sailboat rescue on the social platform X and wrote that the orcas had attacked several sailboats. It's unclear exactly how many boats were targeted prior to this post, but there have also been incidents since.

For instance, on Saturday (Aug. 30), Faro de Vigo reported that orcas destroyed a traditional wooden sailing ship's rudder off O Grove within the Arousa estuary and opened a leak in another sailboat off Ons within the Pontevedra estuary.

Valentín Otero, the owner of the ship targeted in O Grove, told Faro de Vigo that he heard two blows against his vessel before he spotted a pair of orcas. Otero and his crew reported that there was a larger orca measuring about 23 feet (7 meters) long accompanied by a smaller orca swimming alongside it.

"The truth is we were very frightened; in fact we completely freaked out when we realized the orcas were hitting the boat," Otero said in a translated statement.

Related: Watch a pod of orcas pretending to drown one of their own in macabre training session

The Iberian orcas are a critically endangered orca subpopulation thought to have fewer than 40 individuals. The group has been attacking boats off the coast of Spain and Portugal since 2020. While some initial reports suggested that Iberian orcas could be carrying out revenge against the ships, this has been dismissed by many orca experts.

The encounters often involve young orcas going straight for the rudders on the underside of sailing boats. Scientists have suggested that the orcas are likely just bored teenagers with more free time since Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) populations — their favorite prey in the region — recovered, meaning they need to spend less time hunting.

Orca behavior is diverse and complex. Researchers have observed the species engaging in intricate social rituals, from gently nibbling on each other's tongues to tumbling alongside each other as if they're in an aquatic mosh pit. Different orca populations also have their own dialects, similar to human language, and can develop their own unique "fads," such as swimming around with dead salmon on their heads.

There's no reason to suspect that the Iberian orcas are targeting the people aboard the boats. Orcas are fierce predators that are known to hunt a variety of different prey, from tuna to seals, sharks and even whales. However, each population has a particular diet, and none of them involves eating humans. There's only a handful of documented cases of wild orcas attacking humans, and all of these reported incidents come with significant caveats, such as an orca likely mistaking a person for a seal.

Patrick Pester
Patrick Pester
Trending News Writer

Patrick Pester is the trending news writer at Live Science. His work has appeared on other science websites, such as BBC Science Focus and Scientific American. Patrick retrained as a journalist after spending his early career working in zoos and wildlife conservation. He was awarded the Master's Excellence Scholarship to study at Cardiff University where he completed a master's degree in international journalism. He also has a second master's degree in biodiversity, evolution and conservation in action from Middlesex University London. When he isn't writing news, Patrick investigates the sale of human remains.

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