Photo: Jim Pasola // Orca Network
A killer whale was recently spotted wearing a dead salmon on its head. Though researchers have thrown out some best guesses, nobody seems to know for sure why exactly a marine mammal would be wearing a dead fish as a hat.
The whale was spotted off the coast of Washington state, in Puget Sound near Point No Point on Oct. 25. Strangely, this is not the first time a whale has been spotted wearing a ‘salmon hat.’ The phenomenon was first noticed in 1987, when whales from three separate pods took part in the practice.
“Honestly, we have no idea why it happens or why it seems to be started again,” Deborah Giles, research director for Wild Orca, told the Vancouver Sun. She added that the best guess is that the behavior is linked to food availability. The salmon-wearing orca have been spotted near healthy salmon runs in Admiralty Inlet in Puget Sound, so it’s possible the behavior is a response to the abundance of fish.
Others believe the hats are a result of playfulness. “It’s probably being done by young animals and is probably something [that] others may catch on and do because they’re very good at mimicking … in the same way that young kids can pick up tricks from others,” said Andrew Trites , director of the University of British Columbia’s Marine Mammal Research Unit, to CBC.
Well, at least it keeps them too distracted to decide to start attacking nearby boats.
