In the summer of 1987, a female killer whale in Puget Sound began swimming with a dead salmon balanced on her head. Within weeks, orcas in two neighboring pods were doing it too. It served no purpose anyone could identify. By the next summer it had vanished.
Orcas appear to have fads. The current fad running off Spain and Portugal is more expensive than salmon cosplay, and it may be just all for fun.
Since 2020, a small group of Iberian orcas has been ramming the rudders of sailboats — more than 700 encounters and at least eight boats lost, according to the Atlantic Orca Working Group. The popular explanation is revenge: a matriarch injured by a boat, teaching the others to strike back. Most researchers who study these whales do not accept that.
What the evidence shows is narrower. A 2022 study in Marine Mammal Science found the whales go for the rudder specifically and lose interest once the boat stops moving. They are not attacking the vessel. They are playing with the part that swings.
The official advice follows from that. Spanish maritime authorities tell sailors to cut the engine, drop the sails and take their hands off the wheel. Boats that comply come away with less damage.
About 15 whales are involved, out of an Iberian population of fewer than 50. Give a bored orca nothing to push against, and it goes looking for something better.
Rick Good spent ten years in the newspaper business, including with The News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) and The Greenville News (Greenville, SC). He co-wrote, with Melinda Coleman, Rutledge to Riley: Governors of South Carolina, 1776–Present (Published by The Greenville News), and is the author of Mind Games Trivia #1 (Amazon). He has recently spent 15 years creating original trivia content through Sounds Good Mobile Entertainment and continues that with his new company, SGME Software. He edits The Smart Reader’s money, real estate, and business coverage.
