I believe, at some point in the past, that this blog identified itself as pro-orca in the orcas’ war on boats. In case we didn’t, let’s do that now. If the orcas have declared war on boats, we’re on the orcas’ side. We love boats. Boats rule. But orcas are even cooler, and frankly, it makes boats cooler if they come with the possibility of getting capsized by a killer whale.
In related news:
If that video didn’t load, it consists of a humpback whale breaching, said humpback whale coming down upon the edge of a boat, and said boat flipping on its side while at least one person falls or preemptively dives into the water. Meanwhile, a blond-haired teen in sliders and a Dayton hoodie drops his fishing pole and tries to pull his own boat away.
Cool, cool shit.
I did a little research, and so far it doesn’t seem like reporters have gotten the marine biologists involved (the people who got knocked off the boat are fine, by the way). We don’t know whether there was intent. It’s possible the humpback whale didn’t notice the boat was in the path of its flopping. That’s a funny possibility. Like a person tripping over a cat. Oops! Didn’t see you there, little buddy.
If there was intent…
I hope the orcas are behind this.
If you’re not familiar with orca attacks on boats, they can happen for a few different reasons. One reason is that the boat has fish on it, and the orcas know the boat has fish on it, and the orcas know that if they ram the boat, the boat will release its fish in order to escape. It’s like when your friend tells you that your table is enforcing a toll, then steals one of your onion rings. What else can motivate orca attacks? It’s unclear. Some have theorized they’re doing it for fun. Some have theorized they’re doing it for vengeance. I’m not kidding about any of this. Look up the Gibraltar attacks from last spring.
Ideally, what happened here is that an orca told a humpback whale how fun it is to attack a boat. Better yet, maybe the orca dared the humpback whale to try to flip one. Hey man, bet you can’t turn that boat into a catapult. If orcas and humpbacks do form an alliance, it’s probably bad for humanity, because sea otters and porpoises will surely join them soon. Still, I can’t help my excitement about the possibility. It makes boats cooler if they come with the possibility of getting capsized by an alliance of mammalian sea life.
P.S. What if orcas are keeping humpback whales as pets? And then training them to do this? Some people have pet monkeys, you know?
