Orcas 'attacking' boats are actually just bored teenagers having fun, experts say

Orcas that have been bumping boats in Iberian waters for four years are likely just bored teenagers with too much time on their flippers, experts say.

A report published May 24 found that orcas (Orcinus orcas) involved in a string of boat-ramming incidents in southwestern Europe are spending less time hunting and more time exploring new Games now that populations of their favorite prey have rebounded. At least 673 interactions with boats since May 2020, six of which caused the boats to sink, may have resulted from these orcas having more free time, according to the report.

Something about the rudder on the underside of boats appears to attract orcas, particularly young members of the pod that are generally more curious. Whatever it may be, "as they play with the rudder, they don't understand that they can damage the rudder and that damaging the rudder will affect human beings," co-author Alex Zerbini, a senior research scientist at the University of Washington who chairs the scientific committee of the International Whaling Commission, a global body tasked with whale conservation, told The Washington Post. 

"There's nothing in the behavior of the animals that suggests that they're being aggressive," Zerbini said.

Fifteen orcas are known to interact with boats, most of them young and teenage males, according to the report. These orcas are a subset of the critically endangered Iberian population, which is thought to number fewer than 40 individuals.

Related: Infamous boat-sinking orcas spotted hundreds of miles from where they should be, baffling scientists

A video released May 17 by the Spanish group Conservation, Information and Research on Cetaceans (CIRCE) shows how the orcas break rudders by nudging them with their noses and heads. It remains unclear how the behavior started, but scientists have largely discarded previous suggestions it could be motivated by revenge and now believe it is more likely related to play.