Scientists have a new theory to explain why killer whales are hitting yachts off the Iberian Peninsula; the boats are training targets where they learn to hunt their favourite foods.
When baby Iberian killer whales (Orcinus orca) began attacking and sinking boats in 2020, experts wondered if it was revenge, luck, or just plain fun. But a new theory suggests that young killer whales may be using boat rudders as targets to hunt Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus).
As of 2020, the sailing community is understandably interested in where the predators are. “We saw this as a great opportunity for science,” Bruno Díaz López, the study’s lead author and director of the Bottlenose Dolphin Research Institute (BDRI), told Live Science. The team realized they could use community science to collect accurate data on the distribution of the killer whale population. “Sailors are not going to lie to each other because this is a very serious issue,” he said. Of the 597 killer whale encounters recorded in the study, nearly half (47%) involved ship interactions.
Using this data, the team created computer models of the movements of orcas to fill in gaps in knowledge about their seasonal migrations. The models showed that killer whales and tuna are driven by the same environmental factors, meaning that knowing where the tuna are can give you a good idea of where the killer whales will be. They found seasonal changes in the killer whales’ preferred habitats that coincided with the tuna migration.
The findings were published June 18 in the journal Ocean and Coastal Management..
killer whales they are highly specialized predators, and different populations prefer different prey depending on the most abundant food available. Iberian killer whales are “really dependent on tuna,” Díaz López said.
Source: Port Altele
