Orcas are ramming boats again and scientists now think it’s a game
Experts say the whales seem to learn to play with boats from a young age. "Believe me: if they wanted to sink the boats, they'd be sinking the boat."
Spanish authorities have issued a warning to mariners off the coast of Galicia after Iberian orcas rammed two vessels in quick succession on August 30, causing damage that required officials to rescue stranded crews.
The recent encounters are the latest of hundreds of similar incidents that have occurred since 2020, when this same pod, which contains about 40 orcas, first started to ram boats, focusing in particular on destroying rudders.
There are no reports of injuries from these encounters, though the pod has sunk several vessels and disabled countless others. A variety of theories have been floated about the orcas’ motivation for ramming boats, but many scientists think it is most likely a learned cultural behavior that is simply fun for the animals.
“These are not attacks; it is almost certainly a game,” says Naomi Rose, senior scientist of marine mammal biology at the Animal Welfare Institute. “The goal is to break the rudder. It's not to sink the boat. It's not to hurt anybody. It's not revenge. Believe me: if they wanted to sink the boats, they'd be sinking the boat. They are really smart.”
(These dolphins have orca "friends." They may have an ulterior motive.)
Almost all of the ramming occurs in deep waters farther off the coast, where the pod can find its main food source, bluefin tuna. But the interactions last weekend occurred in shallow coastal estuaries, suggesting that the pod may be exploring new areas.
Last month, a vessel with the Bottlenose Dolphin Research Institute spotted the orcas preying on octopus that live in shallower water. The observation might help explain why the pod was probing coastal inlets, though more research is needed to confirm the link.
“It is possible that orcas are chasing prey in coastal waters as they do this in other parts of the world,” says Alex Zerbini, senior scientist at the University of Washington's Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean and Ecosystem Studies, in an email.
(These orcas have mastered hunting—on ice)
“However, the interactions occur primarily in more open waters, where depth is typically greater than 50 meters,” or 164 feet, he adds. “I have not seen anything to suggest that they have shifted their habitat and therefore are now occupying more coastal environments.”
Orcas are highly intelligent and among the few animals on Earth known to produce culture by passing traditions and behaviors down through generations. Some innovations turn out to be passing fancies, such as the delightful “salmon hat” fad in which orcas wear dead salmon on their heads. But the ramming tradition may be here to stay.
“Some of these whales are growing up with the game,” says Rose. “Unfortunately, I fear, given we're now in 2025 and they're still doing it, that it's becoming a cultural element of this population.”
Getting rammed by orcas is understandably unsettling for mariners, especially when the animals damage or even sink vessels. In the encounters last weekend, orcas rammed a yacht and nearly destroyed the rudder of another boat. While those were the only vessels that sustained damage, the orcas scoped out other boats before a patrol ship intervened.
"The truth is that we were very scared…when we realized that the killer whales were hitting the boat,” said one crew member, according to The Independent.
Given that these encounters may be the new normal in the region, stakeholders—including scientists, mariners, and authorities—will have to find solutions to adapt. To that end, Zerbini, Rose, and many other experts participated in a workshop that reported several recommendations to the International Whaling Commission last year.
The report strongly warned against attacking the orcas, as this pod is critically endangered and it is illegal to hurt or kill them. Some mariners have been filmed throwing firecrackers at the animals, among other harmful responses, which the report said was “not only ineffective but may be reinforcing the behavior and increasing the severity of damage to vessels.”
Instead, mariners should remain calm and silent and try to move away from the orcas. Deterring the orcas with noise should only be tried in extreme cases, as prolonged exposure to the sound could acclimate them to it. Officials with the Spanish Ministry of the Environment are considering additions to rudders, like rough surfaces or points, that might dissuade orcas from their rudder-wrecking behavior. Authorities are also working to provide real-time tracking information on the pod so that vessels can avoid them in the first place.
“This is not a whale problem, it’s a people problem,” Rose concludes. “They live there. That's their home 24/7. We just sail through it. We're in their living room. We are the guests. It is just the cost of doing business.”
Becky Ferreira is a science reporter based in upstate New York. Her book First Contact: The Story of Our Obsession with Aliens comes out on September 30, 2025.
