The Daily Populous Tuesday May 14th, 2024 day edition
Authored by theguardian.com and submitted by penguinopusredux

An unknown number of orcas have sunk a yacht after ramming it in Moroccan waters in the strait of Gibraltar, Spain’s maritime rescue service has said, in the latest in a series of similar incidents involving the animals.

The vessel, Alboran Cognac, which measured 15 metres (49ft) in length and carried two people, encountered the highly social apex predators, also known as killer whales, at 9am local time on Sunday.

The passengers reported feeling sudden blows to the hull and rudder before the boat started taking on water. After alerting the rescue services, a nearby oil tanker took them onboard and transported them to Gibraltar. The yacht was left adrift and eventually sank.

The incident is the latest example of recurring orca rammings around the Gibraltar strait that separates Europe from Africa and off the Atlantic coast of Portugal and north-western Spain. Experts believe them to involve a subpopulation of about 15 individuals given the designation “Gladis”.

According to the research group GT Atlantic Orca, which tracks populations of the Iberian orca sub-species, there have been nearly 700 interactions since orca attacks on ships in the region were first reported in May 2020.

Researchers are unsure about the causes for the behaviour, but theories include that it is a playful manifestation of the mammals’ curiosity, a social fad or the intentional targeting of what they perceive as competitors for their favourite prey, the local bluefin tuna.

Although known as killer whales, endangered orcas are part of the dolphin family. They can measure up to 8 metres in length and weigh up to 6 tonnes as adults.

jcb193 on May 13rd, 2024 at 20:56 UTC »

All jokes aside, this has to be one scary event if it’s happening your boat in the middle of the ocean, and your only chance of survivals is getting into a dinghy.

e_g_c on May 13rd, 2024 at 20:34 UTC »

Was on a cruise recently and they had a speaker who was a marine biologist and they mentioned these orcas. I was convinced they were talking bollocks so googled it and…holy shit.

The speaker said they reckon that one of the orcas was injured by boat strike but survived and ‘taught’ the pod to fuck shit up. Cool animals

penguinopusredux on May 13rd, 2024 at 19:37 UTC »

I guess someone told killer whales what those words mean, but thankfully no deaths. A fascinating case though, a 50-foot yacht goes down - that takes some serious gumption.