The ambush was most likely set up by a pack led by a killer whale named Gladys, which has been attacking sailors for several years. The crew said they felt sudden impacts on the hull of the yacht before it began to sink in the waters of Morocco. The sailors sent a distress signal, they were rescued by an oil tanker passing nearby. The sailboat sank soon after.
The first attacks in the Strait of Gibraltar
The first attack by killer whales on a ship in the Strait of Gibraltar was recorded in 2020. Similar ambushes have repeatedly occurred in the area between Spain and Morocco. The Spanish authorities have banned small yachts from going to sea near the northwest coast.
On May 2, six killer whales rammed the hull of the yacht Bavaria 46, on which Britons Janet Morris and Stephen Bidwell were traveling. The terror lasted an hour.
Stephen told me: "I will never forget it. I kept reminding myself that we had a 22-ton steel boat, but it was very scary to see three of them coming fast." "A larger individual was nearby. She seemed to be in charge of the process," the man added, reinforcing suggestions that it was Gladys.
The leader of the pack is Gladys
According to experts, the group is led by the killer whale Gladys, it is she who can teach her relatives to attack ships passing through the strait and sink them.
Causes of aggressive behavior
There are several possible reasons for this behavior of animals. This may be a manifestation of curiosity. However, Alfredo Lopez Fernandez, a biologist at the University of Aveiro in Portugal, believes that aggression hides fear. Probably, the killer whale survived the collision with the ship and is now defending itself, attracting relatives to this.
The uniqueness of killer whales lies in the fact that they often hunt in packs of up to 40 individuals, feed on fish, dolphins, sea lions, seals, sharks and rays. They grow up to 10 m in length and weigh up to 6 tons.