Have you heard about the hottest headgear trend? Dead salmon! You read that right! Nothing says “stylish” like a dead fish plopped across your head. That is, if you are an orca.

This behavior started back in the ’80s. At least, that is when we noticed it. A female orca began wearing a dead salmon as a hat and eventually, many members of her pod joined in with this fashion statement until it started to reach other pods. Soon three pods of orcas, 71 individuals making up a clan of southern resident orcas, were taking part in this fad.

Then, all of a sudden, the salmon hat went out of style and this behavior was not documented again until just recently, nearly 40 years later. Scientists are still scratching their heads, trying to explain this seemingly playful gesture.

This behavior has only been recorded with southern resident orcas whose diet consists only of fish. This ecotype is now considered an endangered species because of the steady decline of their main food source, salmon. Due to issues such as overfishing, dam construction, and other human activities, these orcas must now forage for food with greater effort than they did decades ago. This leaves less time for fun and relaxation and could be the reason why orcas stopped playing with their food.

Though recently, a young orca was photographed wearing that trendy ’80s headpiece once more! With a coincidental surge in the chum salmon population, scientists wonder if this means the orcas are well fed and able to spend more time socializing and enjoying themselves!

Whatever the case may be, we are hoping that salmon hats are a sign of endangered species making a come-back!

When I first came across this story, I literally stopped everything I was doing and started drawing the image in my head. I mean, an orca joyfully wearing a salmon as a hat. It brought a smile to my face and I hope you could get a chuckle out of it as well.

Did you enjoy my first edition of Animal News? If you liked reading this story and would like to see more posts discussing current events in the animal kingdom, let me know in the comments below!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Be expressive, free spirits!

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” – George Bernard Shaw

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When I first came across this story, I immediately had to do a drawing of it. I mean, an orca joyfully wearing a salmon as a hat. The image brought a smile to my face and I hope you could get a chuckle out of it as well.

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