But Christian Frings, a cognitive psychologist who studies how humans control their actions, thinks it could be deliberate.
He published his theory as a commentary Sept. 8 in the journal Animal Cognition.
Frings' theory doesn't attempt to explain why orcas (also called killer whales) would seek to damage a boat or rudder. "Why they want this effect is a secondary question and while of course interesting it touches a quite different topic," Frings told Live Science via email.
Kenna Hughes-Castleberry: Why is it important to study orca behavior, and what can studying orcas tell us about animal cognition?
KHC: Can you explain the action-control framework for our readers?
So let's take the example of turning the light on. The action starts with anticipating how it will look when the light is turned on. It does not start with pressing the light switch. It starts with the visual effect you're going to produce. This visual effect then actually retrieves from memory a motor program, and this motor program actually produces the anticipated effect. So it's all about anticipating action effects.
KHC: How does that apply to the orca behavior?
Cultural transmission would actually be observational learning. That means one orca sees how another orca is attacking a rudder and then just imitates the behavior.
I suggest that they actually anticipate the sensory consequences of their action. So maybe they anticipate how it would look and how it would feel if they destroy the rudder. I would not call it [their behavior] play, but maybe they're just testing or probing what kind of effect they're going to produce.
Maybe this is something the orcas also do. I don't know. But at least it's [another theory].
Whale-watching tours help the public see orca behavior from a close-but-safe distance. (Image credit: Francesco Riccardo Iacomino via Getty Images)CF: Actually, no. Let's assume for a moment it [that a broken rudder is] what they want to produce — because they somehow anticipate how it would look and how it would feel if this yacht cannot be steered anymore.
So we do not need human-like intentions to impose that on the orcas. I'm not saying that, because I really think it's, in a way, comparable with turning a light on. When you turn your light on, you also do not have big thoughts about that. You just want to turn your light on. So you want to produce an effect, and you do not think about all the different, quite complex muscle movements you have to do if you actually press the light switch.
My point is just to look at this behavior from this somewhat different angle, adding this layer about action effects.
KHC: What are the bigger implications if your theory is correct?
Because if the orcas anticipate effects and this action effect produces a certain behavior, if you change the effect — let's say the rudder [material] or the shell of the boat so that the orca thinks he's producing a certain action effect — then he shows his behavior, but this behavior does not produce the action effect anymore. So the orca will probably change the behavior. It might be dangerous because it might elicit somewhat different — maybe even more dangerous — behavior of the orcas, but it might also stop it.
But again, if you try to change it this way, it might be a little bit dangerous. So I would not suggest doing that with a boat with real people on it, because if you change the environmental consequences, they [the orcas] might actually go a little bit crazy. Maybe they might try to produce this effect with a different kind of behavior, and that could be even more aggressive. But I don't know. I can't predict that.
CF: Exactly. And for the general approach, it's important to try to find action frameworks that can travel across species that are not specific for one particular species. Because at the moment, we might have action-control models for humans or action-control models for the great apes.
Exclusive to Live Science ProBut maybe we can just have a family of action-control frameworks, because maybe orcas and humans, and at least the great apes, control their behavior concerning action effects in quite the same way, to be honest.
I think one misconception is actually that the models from the lab are not applicable to behavior in the wild. That's not only true for orcas; it's also true for humans. And I don't like that.
This interview has been condensed and edited lightly for clarity.
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