White Gladis was thought to be pregnant when she began ramming boats, even taking her newborn calf with her on terrorist expeditions.
The matriarch is among a pod of killer whales that have been attacking ships off the coast of Spain and Portugal since the summer of 2020.
The so-called ‘orca uprising’, believed to have been instigated by White Gladis, has seen the species ram and circle ships before tearing off their rudders.
Scientists now believe that the orca was pregnant the entire time, and since the gestation period for orcas is 15 to 18 months, Gladis is believed to have given birth in 2021.
Instead of settling into motherhood, however, she continued her destructive endeavors, taking her young with her.
Researchers believe that the famous female killer whale named White Gladis (pictured) was pregnant when she began wreaking havoc on ships.
Two killer whales pierce the water near Gibraltar in May. The group of whales and their gang leader eventually lost interest and caused thousands of pounds worth of damage.
Commenting on her behaviour, Mónica González, a marine biologist at the Coordinadora de Estudios de Mamíferos Marinos, said during a webinar: ‘She went to the boats with this calf, so she preferred to stop the boats rather than keep her baby. safe’.
Remarkably, killer whales typically care for newborn calves for at least two years after birth, providing them with security and food until they learn to hunt.
According to Robert Pitman, a marine biologist at Oregon State University’s Marine Mammal Institute, female killer whales have an average of five pups in their lifetime and are fiercely protective of them.
Orcas are often “fiercely” protective of their young: White Gladis’s behavior has confused experts as it endangers her calf.
The exact reason for his attacks is unknown, but his peculiar behavior has sparked theories from experts, the most frequent being that he may be acting in response to a traumatic event.
González said in the webinar: “It was more important to stop the boats” than to protect her calf, leading experts to believe that “something bad happened” to the mammal and that Gladis may have suffered a traumatic event with a sailboat. .
Alfredo López Fernández, a biologist at the University of Aveiro in Portugal and a representative of the Atlantic Orca Working Group, told Live Science: “The traumatized orca is the one that initiated this behavior of physical contact with the boat.”
A “critical moment of agony” caused White Gladis to be aggressive towards boats, and other orcas are now teaching and copying it, the biologist told Live Science.
It looks like White Gladis has become a first for other angry orcas, as The Atlantic Orca Working Group has seen a 298% increase in orca-boat interactions between 2020 and 2023.
Consequently, in recent years, three boats have capsized as a result of orca encounters and more than 100 have been damaged.
Just like humans, orcas pass down knowledge from one generation to the next. It is certainly possible that White Gladis, the leader of her family, taught her young and others in the pack how to damage ships in what she believed to be protective action.
Other orcas, especially younger mammals, are likely to engage in this behavior out of curiosity or amusement, “like a kid playing with a soccer ball in the kitchen and breaking a window,” but González explained that killer whales are more likely to do so. adults interact with the canister outside of trauma.
The killer whales show no sign of slowing down, and on June 22, three killer whales attacked a boat participating in an endurance sailing race near the Strait of Gibraltar. Fortunately, the boat was not damaged and the race resumed after the match.
A few days later, off the coast of southern Portugal, another ship was attacked. The ship’s captain, Troy Torres, responded to a Facebook post about the encounter.
On the same day, six orcas attacked a catamaran off Culatra Island for 50 minutes, Bertrand d’Enquin, who was on the boat, wrote in a Facebook post.
He said: ‘A killer whale came back and hit the rudder one last time, as if to confirm that it was broken. It was a harrowing experience.
Some experts are now worried about how the game will end, Deborah Giles, Wild Orca’s director of science and research, said: “I’m concerned that people will take matters into their own hands and use lethal or damaging tactics to try and, you know , make the whales stop or at least, you know, stop an attack on the spot.
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I am Rakesh Sharma, I associated with Elite News as an Editor, since 2021. I take care of all the news operations like content, budget, hiring and policy making.