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.
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.
As soon as there are dead humans, there will be dead orcas. Smart whales play it safe.
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.
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.
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: