Spain: Scientist Expects Orca Interactions To Stop

Orca interactions with small boats off the coasts of Spain and Portugal are expected to stop as the marine mammals mature, according to one of the marine scientists studying the cetaceans’ behaviour.

Published 2 years ago

Source:  Yachting Monthly

Yachting Monthly magazine reports that one of the scientists studying Orca interactions with small sailing yachts off the Iberian Peninsula believes their behaviour will stop once the marine mammals mature.

Alfredo Lopez says the Orca are displaying learnt behaviour but ‘it is a behaviour that should tend to become extinct as orcas assume different roles than they currently do, given that most of them are juveniles.’

According to the Center for Whale Research, male Orcas reach sexual maturity at around 25 years of age; females attain sexual maturity in their early teens.

Lopez is part of Groupo Trabajo Orca Atlantica (GTOA), a group of Portuguese and Spanish marine scientists who have been studying the Orca interactions since they began in 2020.

He said there are at least 16 orcas belonging to various groups of the same sub-population which are interacting with boats, many of them young, and it was ‘unlikely’ that their behaviour could spread to other groups of Orca, although not ‘impossible’.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Related News:

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Related Links:

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Noonsite has not independently verified this information

Read and Post Related Comments

Related to the following Cruising Resources: , ,


You must Login or Register to submit comments.