Why are Orcas called killer whales? Details explored as whales attacked and sunk three boats off the coast of Spain

The report of Orcas, also known as killer whales, attacking and ending up sinking three boats off the coast of Spain are doing rounds on the internet. The NY Post reported that experts said that it may have been an act of revenge and the other whales are also likely to copy this behaviour.

Werner Schafelberger told a German publication that the boats sank because the little ones were shaking up the rudder at the back of the boat while the bigger killer whales were ramming the ship on repeat with full force from the side.

Schafelberger further said:

"The two little orcas observed the bigger one’s technique and, with a slight run-up, they too slammed into the boat."

Marine biologist Alfredo Lopez Fernandez, while speaking with Live Science, said that one of the female killer whales, might have suffered a collision with a boat and that made her more aggressive.

Fernandez continued:

"That traumatized orca is the one that started this behaviour of physical contact with the boat. We do not interpret that the orcas are teaching the young, although the behaviour has spread to the young vertically, simply by imitation, and later horizontally among them because they consider it something important in their lives."

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There is a sudden surge in cases of Orcas hitting the boats and it is being termed as a revenge move

It is worth taking note that several incidents of boats hitting orcas took place since 2020 and some of them resulted in causing injuries to the killer whales.

Other than this, four killer whales also died since May 2020 and this has caused angry behaviour amongst the same subpopulation of the species.

Recently, little killer whales have started copying the behaviour of bigger ones and scientists have also noticed that there are evident behaviours of killer whales appearing to teach others the attacking technique.

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The ancient sailors gave the name killer whales to them because of their behaviour

According to the whales organization, these species of dolphins are called killer whales because of their behaviour of hunting and preying on larger whales. The killer whale name was given to them by ancient sailors.

This species generally eat fish, seals, sea lions, sharks, large whales, dolphins, and other seabirds. It was also mentioned on the website of whales organization that some of these species specialise in specific prey and are known to be picky eaters.

It is also worth noting that in killer whales, knowledge is passed down to younger ones and from the elder killer whales, the little ones learn how to attack, catch the prey, what to avoid eating and where to find it.