A pod of orcas has been ramming and sinking yachts off Europe’s coast, and scientists say they’ve finally cracked why. For years, the attacks have baffled experts, with dozens of vessels damaged near the Iberian Peninsula.
In May 2020, a sailor crossing the Strait of Gibraltar felt his small yacht being pushed from below. Something was striking the rudder repeatedly, bending and scraping the blade that controls the vessel’s direction. When he looked over the side, a black-and-white shape roughly the length of his boat was looking back.Over the following five years, scientists recorded more than 760 similar encounter…