The orca decides to take revenge after being hit by the yacht; Since then, Gladys has become adept at the art of training her compatriots to turn boats, according to the researchers.
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The Telegraph reported that the whale had actually attacked three boats, destroying two of them, on British soil, in Gibraltar.
Scientists believe that Gladys seeks revenge after experiencing a traumatic event, such as being hit by a boat or being caught in a fishing net.
“It was this traumatized killer whale that triggered the physical contact behavior with the boat,” Alfredo López Fernández, a biologist at the University of Aveiro, Portugal and a representative of the Atlantic Orca Working Group, told The Telegraph.
Other orcas began to mimic his behaviour.
Attacked a couple “with admiration for nature”
On May 2, a group of six predators surprised a Cambridge couple as they were loading their yacht near Tangiers, Morocco.
Janet Morris and Stephen Bidwill, both 58, who were taking a sailing course at the time, say they were “in awe of the power of nature.”
“Obviously an older woman was there who seemed to be supervising [l’opération]says Mr. Bidwill.
It was “an experience I will never forget.”
