![]() ![]() Gray whales that spend the winters nursing their calves in the warm, shallow waters of the lagoons on the Pacific coast of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula frequently swim up to the side of boats, even letting humans pet them. While experts doubt the encounters are actually attacks - a more likely explanation is that the orcas are playing - they certainly feel violent to the people on board and pose a risk to both the whales and humans.Īn ocean away, whales are engaging with humans in a different kind. Since 2020, scientists have documented hundreds of instances of killer whales approaching or striking a boat. A few years ago they started targeting boats, causing at least three to sink. The population of killer whales near the Iberian Peninsula has especially caused concern. "As whale populations recover from whaling and humans venture more into the oceans for various things, including ecotourism, we're going to have more of these interactions between whales and humans that we don't quite understand," Leigh Torres, a marine ecologist and professor at Oregon State University's Marine Mammal Institute, told Insider. Orcas ramming boats and gray whales letting humans pick whale lice off them have recently made headlines - but these interactions may indicate more of what's to come. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders.
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