Killer whales off the Pacific Attacking Boats Too!

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by Bowdrie

Captain to XO; "Clear for action, rig out the hydrophones, man the deck gun, ready on the depth charge racks".
Drop a hydrophone in the water and crank-up the Heavy Metal,,, or maybe some Beethoven?

Yes, it crossed my mind as well, but I have a hypothetical feeling that the orca’s love the heavy metal. Mozart dubious as well, so yes Beethoven is an option

[jeanathon]

Not sure which Orca thread it was in, but someone mentioned bagpipes. My money is on the pipes!

[Cheechako]

Long thread, maybe this was already posted:
One result:

[GordMay]

Maybe, Grandma Orca needs to get involved?

A new study [1] shows that post-menopausal, resident southern killer whale mothers, protect their adult sons, from getting injured, while fighting or roughhousing, with other orcas.

A healthy adult male orca has the potential to mate with a variety of females. So having strong, healthy, long-living sons, is a mother's best chance of ensuring that her genes are passed on.

In fact, keeping them out of scrapes is just one way orca mommas look out for their boys. Mother orcas guide and feed their sons, throughout their adult lives — often at the expense of their own well-being. [1]

One 2012 study [2] found that male orcas, over 30, were eight times more likely to die, in the year following their own mothers' deaths.

Fanny Couture recently published a study [3], that found these orcas have not been getting enough food, since 2018. She said that these new findings [1] indicate there may be other factors threatening this population.
“
[1] “Costly lifetime maternal investment in killer whales”~ by Michael N. Weiss et al

Highlights
• Providing care to weaned sons reduces female killer whales’ reproductive output
• These effects cannot be explained by lactation costs or group composition
• Sons do not become less costly as they grow older

Open Access ➥ https://www.cell.com/current-biology...showall%3Dtrue

[2]“Adaptive Prolonged Postreproductive Life Span in Killer Whales” ~ by Emma A. Foster et al
➥ https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1224198

[3] “Requirements and availability of prey for northeastern pacific southern resident killer whales” ~ by Fanny Couture et al
➥ https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ar...l.pone.0270523

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by GordMay

Maybe, Grandma Orca needs to get involved?

A new study [1] shows that post-menopausal, resident southern killer whale mothers, protect their adult sons, from getting injured, while fighting or roughhousing, with other orcas.

A healthy adult male orca has the potential to mate with a variety of females. So having strong, healthy, long-living sons, is a mother's best chance of ensuring that her genes are passed on.

In fact, keeping them out of scrapes is just one way orca mommas look out for their boys. Mother orcas guide and feed their sons, throughout their adult lives — often at the expense of their own well-being. [1]

One 2012 study [2] found that male orcas, over 30, were eight times more likely to die, in the year following their own mothers' deaths.

Fanny Couture recently published a study [3], that found these orcas have not been getting enough food, since 2018. She said that these new findings [1] indicate there may be other factors threatening this population.
“
[1] “Costly lifetime maternal investment in killer whales”~ by Michael N. Weiss et al
Open Access ➥ https://www.cell.com/current-biology...showall%3Dtrue

[2]“Adaptive Prolonged Postreproductive Life Span in Killer Whales” ~ by Emma A. Foster et al
➥ https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1224198

[3] “Requirements and availability of prey for northeastern pacific southern resident killer whales” ~ by Fanny Couture et al
➥ https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ar...l.pone.0270523

Much more likely than the “cruisers should stay home” explanation. I can see how overfishing causes these females to become aggressive when they can’t find enough food for their sons.

But who will stop the overfishing? Much easier to harass a couple sailors

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by GordMay

In fact, keeping them out of scrapes is just one way orca mommas look out for their boys. Mother orcas guide and feed their sons, throughout their adult lives

This provides some hope that if deterrents that are perceived (by the orcas) as unpleasant or dangerous are used by yachts on a more widespread basis that a reduction on yacht attacks will follow.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

This provides some hope that if deterrents that are perceived (by the orcas) as unpleasant or dangerous are used by yachts on a more widespread basis that a reduction on yacht attacks will follow.

Indeed!

They keep coming for the fishermen and they keep successfully deterring them with fire crackers but of course there is fish to be had from them so they will keep going after them as long as they catch fish.

[stevensuf]

These attacks are not rare, they are becoming a near daily occurrence here in the Algarve in southern Portugal. They have tagged some of the whales and there are multiple different groups doing the attacks. It is getting to the stage where insurance companies are taking note and policies are rising some companies are refusing insurance for the area like the Caribbean in hurricane season.

I don't know what can be done, but I dont see them as cute animals any more. More like vermin that need eradicated.

[chubby]

Originally Posted by stevensuf

These attacks are not rare, they are becoming a near daily occurrence here in the Algarve in southern Portugal. They have tagged some of the whales and there are multiple different groups doing the attacks. It is getting to the stage where insurance companies are taking note and policies are rising some companies are refusing insurance for the area like the Caribbean in hurricane season.

I don't know what can be done, but I dont see them as cute animals any more. More like vermin that need eradicated.

we've seen this story before and know exactly how it will end..

[chrisr]

just seen a report of orcas at maupiti (30nm W of bora bora) getting rather too playful with boats there.

no attacks yet, but this is way too up close for me !










cheers,

[Chotu]

It would seem we are returning to this era:

[GordMay]

Transient killer whale "T46", also known as "Wake", seen below, in a 2005 photo, is presumed dead, after nearly a year without a sighting, on the West Coast

A transient orca [Bigg's killer whale] matriarch, known as ‘T46, AKA ‘Wake’, "one of the most prolific female killer whales" on record, is presumed dead, after nearly a year without a sighting, on the West Coast, according to B.C. researchers.

T46/Wake was thought to have been born in 1966, and she birthed eight calves, during her reproductive years. Her daughters gave birth to 15 grandchildren, and her granddaughters had five great-grandchildren. These are only her maternal descendants. Any offspring, that any of her sons have fathered, we wouldn't know about, because of the social structure, in which killer whales live.

Wake was last spotted on Feb. 20, 2023, near Alert Bay, B.C., an island community off the northeast coast of Vancouver Island. Since then, her family has been seen repeatedly, without her.

Wake was first observed, in 1976, when she was captured in Puget Sound, with five other orcas, by humans who planned to send them to an aquarium. The "Budd Inlet Six" became the subject of public outcry, and were later set free, sparking an end to the live capture industry, in B.C. and Washington state.*

* “T046 Wake & The Budd Inlet Six, and the End of Live Capture”
➥ https://www.cetussociety.org/current-events/t046-wake

[Tillikum]

Marine Mammismo


Could the effects be similar?

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Tillikum

Marine Mammismo
Could the effects be similar?

Maybe, but, I suspect, only marginally similar.

“Mammoni” [Mamma’s Boys in Italy], is a term applied to single Italian men, who live at home with their mothers, sometimes into their forties and fifties.
I suspect this may be more a result of economic pressures, rather than an unhealthy dependence on their mothers. Conveniece [laziness & enmeshment*] may also play a role.

* What Is Enmeshment Trauma?
➥ https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is...trauma-5207999

With orcas, it may be more of a genetic survival strategy.

Charli Grimes, and her colleagues, analysed [1] 47 years’ worth of record keeping, on orca relationships within each pod.
They found a clear pattern:
Male orcas had fewer tooth marks if their mother was alive and postmenopausal, whereas orphan males and males who lived with mothers of reproductive age had the most injuries.
These results suggest postmenopausal orcas, who may have more time on their fins, compared with females that are still raising young, protect their sons from social conflict.

These moms probably don’t physically intervene in fights, the authors note. Instead, they probably use their influence to prevent violence, in the first place.

As for daughters, Grimes found no difference in scarring, between female orcas with postmenopausal moms, and those with reproductive moms, implying that they don’t receive the same protection as their brothers.
There may be an evolutionary reason for that: When a female orca gives birth, the whole pod takes responsibility for raising her calf.
Males, meanwhile, mate outside their pods, outsourcing the burden of raising his offspring to a different group.
By prioritizing her sons, an orca matriarch can pass on her genes, without sacrificing as many of her own group’s resources.

The data [1] may also help explain why female orcas live so long [sometimes more than 20 years], after they go through menopause.
Only in humans, and a few whale species, do females live so long past reproductive age. One similarity these groups share, is that older females continue to play important social roles.


[1] “The effect of age, sex, and resource abundance on patterns of rake markings in resident killer whales (Orcinus orca)” ~ by Charli Grimes et al
➥ https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/...1111/mms.12908

[SomeGuyInaShirt]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Well, it’s been a good run. Boating has been fun. But if killer whales want me out of the water I’m gone. Lol

Apparently they are getting pretty feisty in the Pacific Ocean as well now.

https://t.snapchat.com/Ry1ZuceU

I have to wonder how word travels this quickly around the earth with them. Are they communicating in some way that we are not aware of?

I do have to give them a lot of credit for intelligence however. They know what they are doing.

This isn't new. I recently saw a YouTube interview of a sailor whose yacht was attacked by an orca in the 70s off the Galapagos. The yacht sank and the guy spent something like 130+days at sea in a life raft as a result.

Humpbacks sink boats too occasionally. I've had several follow me all day over the last few weeks breaching regularly and alarmingly close.