Our Planet Climate and Geopolitics
In the summer of 1987, a female orca off the US west coast was seen with a dead salmon balanced on her head.
Others soon followed suit, including individuals from other pods. A year later, the “salmon hat” trend was over, with nobody any the wiser as to why it started.
Thirty years later, the hat is back: researchers have reported sightings of orcas in South Puget Sound in southwest Washington swimming with dead salmon perched on their heads.
The motivation remains unclear (“honestly, your guess is as good as mine,” says Deborah Giles, from the non-profit organisation Wild Orca) – one theory is that in times of plenty, the orcas are storing the salmon as a snack.
An advantage these days is that researchers have drones to track the whales and see what happens.
