In recent years, killer whales have been regularly ramming and sinking luxury yachts in European waters. So scientists have been trying to figure out why these intelligent, social animals have learned this new destructive trick. The results of the study showed that this behavior is not related to the fight for territory and aggression.
The truth is that coordinated attacks on ships are probably a joke fashion among bored teenage killer whales, The Washington Post writes . Since 2020, members of a small group of killer whales have crashed into at least 673 ships off the coasts of Portugal, Spain, and Morocco, causing some of them to sink. The Spanish and Portuguese governments have commissioned a group of experts to determine what caused the whales to behave so aggressively and how to stop it.
After years of research, a team of biologists, government officials, and representatives of the marine industry have released their findings on why one particular group of Orcinus killer whales has developed this destructive behavior. And it turns out that killer whales - especially children and adolescents - just want to have fun. The report shows that a combination of free time, curiosity, and natural playfulness has led young killer whales to adopt this "trend" of bumping into boats because they just want to have fun, and in the vast - and rather empty - open waters, boats are first-class toys.
"It looks like a game. Obviously, it's a very dangerous game they're playing. But it's a ga.
