You’ve probably seen the headlines or maybe even video of orcas tearing the rudders off boats on the Iberian coast.

It’s easy to jump to conclusions about the motives of these apex predators but don’t panic… let’s take a step back. We wanted to get some insight into what may be going on so we called up the Orca Behavior Institute and talked to Monika Wieland Shields to get into the complexity and culture of our neighbors in the sea.