• elucubra@sopuli.xyz
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      16
      ·
      13 hours ago

      Orcas have almost never killed humans in recorded history. The recorded cases were either jailed orcas, or mistaken identity. There are however many documented cases of orcas offering catch to humans, and behavior like that. They “kill” boats, not humans.

      • hector@lemmy.today
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        13 hours ago

        Orcas know not to leave witnesses if they do.

        Those boats know what they did. I presume scraped some of their pod with propeller or something, they are revenging themselves.

        • Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          2 hours ago

          According to the specialist talking about it on TV here in Portugal, they’re pretty much just playing with the boat’s rudder and it’s the side-damage that might sink the boat (normally it doesn’t) and they don’t even know that they’re sinking it because the actual sinking happens hours later, so after they’ve left the area.

          Apparently most boats “attacked” by orcas just end up with a broken rudder.

        • grue@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          11 hours ago

          Those boats know what they did. I presume scraped some of their pod with propeller or something, they are revenging themselves.

          IIRC the current theory is that it’s a game juvenile males started playing for fun.

          Also, sailboats and orcas are not like powerboats and manatees. The notion that the boats somehow injured the orcas is not plausible for several reasons:

          • A 40 foot sailboat tops out at about 10 mph, while orcas can swim over 3x that speed.
          • Sailboat props are often directly behind the hull and surrounded by rudder, rather than protruding below it where it could hit an animal swimming below the boat.