How do you start an orca mosh pit? By blasting heavy metal music at them — a lesson one catamaran captain and his crew learned the hard way. 

Florian Rutsch, who was captaining his boat across the Strait of Gibraltar, and his crew came face-to-face with a pod of orcas, who have, like numerous others around Portugal and Spain in the last year, taken a liking to ramming vessels. For a solution, they turned to the Spotify playlist “Metal for Orcas” to scare away the troublesome orca. In a shocking twist of fate, blasting compositions such as Dying Fetus’s “The Blood of Power” and Monument of Misanthropy’s “Exceptionally Sadistic” at a group of 4000 kilogram apex predators did not work out in the crew’s favour.

The orcas promptly went for the vessel’s rudder, rendering it impossible to steer. All crew members were ultimately rescued, and Spanish authorities towed the catamaran back to shore, according to the New York Times.

Marine scientists have warned against using loud music to scare killer whales away, saying that it’s more likely to attract the whales to your boat, and any music loud enough to actually deter the whales would most likely injure them and add to the increasing issue of underwater noise pollution.

Hanging out

How do you make the world’s largest arboreal mammal, used to hanging from the trees of Sumatra’s tropical rainforests, feel at home in the city of Toronto?

That’s the question Toronto Zoo and architectural firms Zeidler and Jones & Jones hope to have answered in designing a first-of-its-kind in Canada orangutan habitat, named Orangutans of Gunang Leuser, Guardians of the Rainforest. 

The 1200 square metre habitat is designed to encourage orangutans to lead an enriched life, moving freely and as they would in their natural habitat. But it also aims to educate the public on the importance of animal welfare and habitat conservation. The habitat “immerses both orangutan and guest in a meaningful, one-of-a-kind experience,” says Zeidler architect, Edward Chan. 

To achieve this, the designers took inspiration from the landscapes of Sumatra. The structures emulate natural tree canopies using climbing poles, platforms, cables and chutes. The outdoor habitats are also weaved into an existing indoor habitat in the Indo-Malaya pavilion. Observation windows are installed at an angle to minimize reflection, and visitors can also observe behavioural scientists as they study the orangutans.

Toronto Zoo welcomed a baby orangutan last year, which will no doubt love swinging around the new habitat. 

Carbon heroes

The Caribbean country of Dominica has created the world’s first protected area for sperm whales, with over 480 square kilometres of water on the western side of the island designated as a reserve for the endangered animals. 

The waters serve as key nursing and feeding grounds for sperm whales, of the largest animals on Earth. But beyond protecting the whales, scientists hope that the protected area will also help fight the climate crisis. Sperm whales defecate near the surface, resulting in nutrient-rich poop remaining near the sea-air interface. Plankton that exist in this ecosystem feed on the nutrients and then bloom, capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as they photosynthesize and dragging it to the lower reaches of the water column when they die. 

Sperm whales in Dominica are believed to defecate more than whales elsewhere, according to Carleton University Department of Biology scientist Shane Gero, who has worked as an advisor to the Dominica government on the project. “In some respects,” says Gero, “sperm whales are fighting climate change on our behalf.” 

Ear to the ground