Adolescent orcas off the coasts of Europe have been making life difficult for boaters, repeatedly ramming and biting rudders, often causing major damage. These unusual encounters, which have been happening for over two years, have mostly taken place near Portugal and Spain.
But now, as NPR reports, the same behavior has appeared off the coast of France. Ester Kristine Storkson described being violently awakened on her father's 37-foot sailboat by several orcas slamming into the vessel. “They [hit] us repeatedly … giving us the impression that it was a coordinated attack,” she told NPR. After 15 minutes, the orcas swam away—leaving the boat’s rudder destroyed.
This new location has puzzled experts, as it's far from the known hotspots for these incidents. Renaud de Stephanis, president of the cetacean research group CIRCE, told NPR that the rudder-ramming in Spain and Portugal is believed to be the work of a small group of adolescent male orcas from the same pod. But the waters off France are outside their usual range.
“I really don't understand what happened there,” he said. “It's too far away. I don’t think they would go up there for a couple of days and then come back.”
Why Are They Doing This?
Scientists aren’t entirely sure why the orcas are fixated on rudders, but they have some theories. One possibility is that the young orcas enjoy the sensation of water movement created by boat propellers, and ramming rudders is their way of saying, Hey, turn it on! Others think they might just be curious about the moving parts of boats—or frustrated when the propellers aren’t spinning.
Another theory? It’s simply a fun game.
“When they … have their own adult life, it will probably stop,” de Stephanis told NPR.
In other words, just typical teenage hooliganism.
Orcas and Their Strange Fads
It turns out, orca societies experience trends—just like humans do. A 2004 study published in Biological Conservation documented a bizarre “fashion” fad among orcas in the Puget Sound. It all started when one female orca began wearing a dead salmon on her head. Soon, others followed, and the trend spread to two other pods. The “salmon hat” craze lasted about six weeks, with a few orcas trying to revive it the following summer—but by then, the fad had faded.
Jared Towers, director of Bay Cetology in British Columbia, has seen similar trends among Pacific orcas. “We have juvenile males who … often interact with prawn and crab traps,” he said. “That’s just been a fad for a few years.”
A Frightening, But Likely Harmless, Trend
Despite the alarming nature of these encounters—one boat has even sunk due to rudder damage—there’s no evidence that orcas are intentionally attacking humans. In fact, there are no recorded fatalities from wild orca encounters and very few reports of aggression toward people at all.
So while these teen orcas are definitely causing chaos, it’s likely just a passing phase. Maybe they’ll outgrow it soon—or maybe they just need a productive hobby.