With salmon hats, Orca fashion goes back to the 1980s

In late October, observers off the coast of Washington State witnessed an unusual sight: orcas swimming with dead salmon perched on their heads. This behavior, first noted in 1987, has not been seen for nearly 40 years. Photographer Jim Pasola captured an image of a male orca known as J27 Blackberry wearing a dead salmon on his head near Washington state's Kitsap Peninsula on October 25, delighting researchers and observers, according to CBC News.

Deborah Giles, the research director for the nonprofit Wild Orca, witnessed the return of the salmon hat trend while observing orcas in the Puget Sound. "We saw one with a fish on its head. So that was fun — it's been a while since I've personally seen it," Giles said, as reported by Huff Post. "Honestly, we have no idea why this started again, why it happens or why it seems to be started again," she added, according to The Sun.

The salmon hat behavior was first observed in the summer of 1987 when a female orca from K Pod started carrying a dead salmon on her head. Within days, her entire group began to imitate her, indicating rapid spread within the orca community. This trend quickly became a craze among the orca populations of the Northeast Pacific. However, by the summer of 1988, the fad had passed, and the orcas no longer wore salmon hats.

Researchers are now speculating about the reasons behind the revival of this behavior. Some experts propose that older killer whales are bringing back this trend to feel young again, according to The Sun.

Giles noted that orca feeding grounds in South Puget Sound are experiencing a "bumper crop" of chum salmon, which may explain the revival of this unusual behavior, as reported by Huff Post. Howard Garrett, co-founder of Orca Network, said the J Pod was in inland Puget Sound continuously for more than a month this fall, feasting on fish thanks to a huge chum salmon run, according to CBC News.

Andrew Trites, the director of the University of British Columbia's Marine Mammal Research Unit, suggested that the behavior might be a sign of playfulness among the orcas. "Here we've got some animals that are playing with their food. That tells me they must have full bellies and they must have time on their hands," Trites said, as reported by Huff Post. He also mentioned that orcas have other ways of carrying food, such as underneath their pectoral flipper, according to CBC News.

Howard Garrett believes the behavior is a form of social communication. "They're completely social, so this is some sort of social communication. And what it indicates is that they are using the fish as some kind of symbol. A symbol of what, I don't know," he told CBC News. "It's a very sophisticated thing to do something for no purpose other than that it amuses you," Naomi Rose of the Animal Welfare Institute noted, as reported by the New York Post.

Not all researchers agree that this is a revival of an old trend. Monika Wieland Shields, director of the Orca Behavior Institute, speculated that the recent sighting was a one-off incident. "In my opinion, it's a stretch to say it was a salmon hat, and an even greater stretch to say the fad is back off a single photo," she told CBC News. She suggested that the orca was simply hunting, and it was just a lucky moment caught on camera.

Researchers plan to investigate this behavior more closely. "Over time, we might determine if the orcas keep the fish on their heads for a certain time before eating them, or if this behavior has no link to feeding," Giles noted. New drone technology not available in 1987 has allowed experts to capture the whales in action—fish hats and all—in a way they haven't been able to previously, aiding in the study of this behavior.

The reemergence of the salmon hat behavior has puzzled scientists, as they still don't know why the trend started or why it has reappeared after nearly 40 years.

"Maybe it was celebrating that there are just so many fish [around that] we can play with them," Garrett noted, according to CBC News. 

This article was written in collaboration with generative AI company Alchemiq