Orcas Have Hit 700 Boats and Hurt No One. Here's What They're Really Doing

Orcas have hit 700 boats and hurt no one — so what are they really doing? Since 2020, a small group of killer whales off Spain and Portugal has struck more than seven hundred boats, and nine yachts have been lost. They always go for the rudder and never for the people on board. Scientists have proposed four explanations: revenge, hunting practice, a war over tuna, and a game. We test each one against the evidence, from the yacht Idem (23 July 2026) to the 2024 Madrid expert workshop and the newest 2026 study. ⏱ Chapters 00:00 The yacht Idem 00:48 Meet the suspects 02:08 Version one: revenge? 04:00 Version two: training to hunt? 05:39 Version three: competition? 07:28 Version four: a game? 09:41 Are the orcas now in danger? 11:00 Why they never touch us 📚 Sources • Salvamento Marítimo, 23 Jul 2026 — https://x.com/salvamentogob/status/20... • Live Science, 28 Jul 2026 — https://www.livescience.com/animals/o... • Science (AAAS), Sep 2026 — https://www.science.org/content/artic... • Castro et al. 2026, Marine Mammal Science 42(4): e70247 — https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.70247 • Madrid workshop report (MITECO / IWC), Feb 2024 — https://www.miteco.gob.es/content/dam... • Cruising Association orca data, May 2024 — https://www.theca.org.uk/node/60862 • AWI Quarterly, Summer 2024 — https://awionline.org/awi-quarterly/s... 🎬 Some underwater scenes are clearly labelled reconstructions made with AI. Photo and footage credits are in the pinned comment. #orcas #killerwhales #ocean