Yahoo Lifestyle Orca Spotted Doing Something Really Weird In Puzzling Throwback To The 1980s
Dead salmon hats for fall? Groundbreaking.
In the summer of 1987, orcas from the Pacific Northwest’s “southern resident” population started doing something that fascinated and perplexed human observers: wearing dead salmon on their heads. The daring fashion statement started with one female, but then spread to killer whales in other pods. Soon, though, fish carcass headgear seemed to have gone the way of the poodle perm ― but not anymore.
Over the past few weeks, orca enthusiasts have spotted at least one killer whale sporting the throwback accessory.
“We saw one with a fish on its head,” Deborah Giles, the research director for the nonprofit Wild Orca, told New Scientist. “So that was fun – it’s been a while since I’ve personally seen it.”
Photographer Jim Pasola snapped a picture of a male orca known as J27 Blackberry boldly flaunting a fishy adornment near Washington state’s Kitsap Peninsula on Oct. 25.
It’s not clear what sparked the apparent ’80s revival.
“Honestly, we have no idea why this started again, why it happens or why it seems to be started again,” Giles told Canada’s Times Colonist.
However, researchers have noted that the trend may coincide with times of especially plentiful supplies of food. Right now, orca feeding grounds in South Puget Sound are experiencing a “bumper crop” of chum salmon, Giles told New Scientist.
Andrew Trites, the director of the University of British Columbia’s Marine Mammal Research Unit, shared a similar theory with the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. He suspects the behavior means that killer whales are enjoying themselves.
“Here we’ve got some animals that are playing with their food,” he said. “That tells me they must have full bellies and they must have time on their hands.”
