45-minute long orca attack sinks yet another yacht off Morocco

globalnews.ca:

Killer whales are at it again, this time attacking and sinking a Polish yacht off the coast of Morocco.

The incident happened in the Strait of Gibraltar last week, when a pod of orcas set their sights on the Grazie Mamma II, a vessel owned by Polish touring company Morskie Mile.

In a translated Facebook post, the company said the group of whales attacked the boat “for 45 minutes ..causing major damage and leakage.”

“The crew is safe, unharmed and sound,” the post assured readers, but the boat itself sank at the entrance to Tanger-Med, a Moroccan port.

It’s just the latest in an ever-increasing trend of the animals attacking and damaging boats off the coast of Portugal and Spain.

Orcas have been targeting ships in the region since 2020 and each year sees more and more attacks.

Marine scientists are still trying to determine what is causing the uptick in orca attacks, but there’s no question there’s been a sizable increase in these incidents. Over the past two years, killer whale research group Atlantic Orca Working Group has found these events have tripled, with more than 200 in 2022 compared with 52 incidents in 2020.

One intriguing aspect of the attacks is that the orcas primarily target smaller boats — those measuring less than 49 feet tend to be a favourite for the whales.

Earlier this year, biologist and wildlife conservationist Jeff Corwin told CBS News that the behaviour boils down the “incredible intelligence” of orcas and he believes older whales are teaching their young pod members these destructive tendencies.

“What we’re seeing is adapted behaviour. We’re learning about how they actually learn from their environment and then take those skill sets and share them and teach them to other whales,” he said.

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