Have orcas started using salmon as hats again?
A trend from the 1980s might be making a comeback.
In October last year, photographer Jim Pasola captured a photo of the orca J27, also known as Blackberry, with a salmon on its head.
Blackberry was hunting in Puget Sound near Seattle, USA, with its family group, the J Pod, when the photographer snapped the shot.
The image led several American media outlets to wonder if the salmon hat trend from the 1980s was finally back in style.
The salmon hat
In the summer of 1987, a female orca began swimming around with a dead salmon on her nose in Puget Sound.
This salmon hat trend spread, and eventually, the entire pod swam around with salmon on their heads.
Over the next six weeks, two other pods in the area also started swimming with dead salmon on their heads.
But then the trend stopped. The following year, no orcas were seen wearing salmon hats.
Researchers are not entirely sure why the orcas did this or why they stopped.
Play with their food
"The trend likely began with an orca that found it amusing and started playing with the salmon," says Anders Ruus.
He researches whales at the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA).
"If others find it fun too, they start imitating," he says.
Orcas are social animals that live with their family groups and learn from each other. Often, they learn to hunt through play.
"They're a bit like us humans. We also learn a lot through play when we’re young," he says.
Other animals also fall victim to orcas' entertainment.
“Some orcas toss an unfortunate seal into the air and slap it with their tail before eating it. It’s almost like they’re playing tennis with the seal,” says Ruus.
Ruus compares orcas to cats that play with mice.
"They don't need to do this, as they're already quite efficient predators," he says.
Plenty of food in the water?
One theory about why orcas swim with a salmon on their heads is that they have had easy access to food.
The pod of orcas that started the salmon hat trend relied entirely on salmon.
Stephanie Raymond from Orca Network says that hunting has not been challenging recently.
"This fall, Puget Sound has had a record amount of salmon. Orcas have been visiting the waters near Seattle frequently to hunt," she says.
Whale researcher Ruus believes that this abundance of food might allow orcas to let loose a little.
“It could be a sort of celebration. They’re indulging in playing with their food,” says Ruus.
Doubt that the trend is back
"It was an actual trend in the 80s. This was one of many orca trends we've seen come and gone," Monika Wieland Shields tells sciencenorway.no.
She works at the whale research organisation Orca Behavior Institute. She is not convinced that the salmon hat trend has returned.
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"The claim that the trend is back is based on a single photo taken in Puget Sound in October. In that photo, the fish is still alive, so I think it's more likely that the orca was trying to stun the fish before catching it," she says.
Whale researcher Volker Deecke from the University of Cumbria in England agrees that it is premature to declare the trend is back.
"Orcas often eat salmon near the surface of the water. The fish might have ended up on the head accidentally. Only time will tell if this behaviour spreads to more orcas like it did in 1987," he says.
Deecke does not rule out the possibility that this behaviour may have happened occasionally over the past 37 years, but better cameras make it easier to detect now.
No other photos of orcas with salmon hats have been taken in the area since October.
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Translated by Alette Bjordal Gjellesvik
Read the Norwegian version of this article on ung.forskning.no
References:
Marine Mammal Commission: Southern Resident Killer Whale
Orca Networks: PHOTOS OF THE DAY, October 29, 2024
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