Gladis the killer whale and her gang of orcas, out for revenge

A British sailor’s boat was targeted on Thursday in the latest attack near Gibraltar, by Gladis, a killer whale and her gang of orcas.

Gladis, believed to be traumatized, is thought to be teaching other orcas to target boats.

So far this month there have been 20 attacks on small vessels sailing in the Strait of Gibraltar. However the Atlantic Orca Working Group (GTOA) have reported dozens of attacks on ships along the Spanish and Portuguese coasts this year.

Experts believe Gladis may have suffered a “critical moment of agony”, such as colliding with a boat or becoming entrapped during illegal fishing, which altered her behavior in a “defensive” fashion, the Independent reported.

“That traumatized orca is the one that started this behavior of physical contact with boats,” Dr Lopez Fernandez told Live Science.

“We do not interpret that the orcas are teaching the young, although the behavior has spread to the young vertically, simply by imitation, and later horizontally among them, because they consider it something important in their lives,” he said.

The behavior has baffled scientists, with some initially suggesting it could be related to the harmful scarcity of food facing the mammals, or the disruptive resumption of business-as-usual nautical activities in the wake of the pandemic, while others have suggested it could be playful behavior.

Although known as killer whales, endangered orcas are part of the dolphin family. They can measure up to eight meters and weigh up to six tonnes as adults.