Orca Go Retro Reviving 80s Fashion

[IdeomotorPrisoner]

A fish can also be a hat. 

I love whales. They may not have Twitter for Orca, but they have memes. They mix in behavioral fads like screwing with yachts with some genuine quirky behavior... like fish hats. 

link 

In the 1980s, the stylish sushi trend spread through the local orca community like wildfire after just one female was spotted carrying a fish on her nose in Puget Sound, researchers said.

The dead salmon hat trend of 1987, which also originated in Puget Sound, started with just one female orca who began carrying the dead fish on her nose.

 Within the next five to six weeks, the entirety of her pod — and two others — were following suit.

And much like the craze around hair bows this summer, the fad ended just as quickly as it began — and stayed underground until last month.

Maybe it's a whale sport like "how long you can balance a fish on your head without losing it?" 

I wonder if fish color vibrancy or size matters and that works like brand recognition for them, and if they stratify themselves through status symbols? Like if you get a runty fish it's like if your parents bought your non-name brand shoes at Payless to the other Orca? Like trendy whale snob bullies? 

"Omg, eww, you have a tiny Coho! Your pod must be poor! What, you couldnt get a sockeye?"

[Maxmars]

I suppose it's a pod fad... rather than a status symbol.

What would worry me would be if some of them spent time catching 'nose-fish' hats and exchanging them for 'other' things... the beginnings of "commerce."

Tomorrow they'll invent stylish markings... whale tattoos... then all bets are off!

[guyfriday]

A fish can also be a hat. 

I love whales. They may not have Twitter for Orca, but they have memes. They mix in behavioral fads like screwing with yachts with some genuine quirky behavior... like fish hats. 

link 

Maybe it's a whale sport like "how long you can balance a fish on your head without losing it?" 

I wonder if fish color vibrancy or size matters and that works like brand recognition for them, and if they stratify themselves through status symbols? Like if you get a runty fish it's like if your parents bought your non-name brand shoes at Payless to the other Orca? Like trendy whale snob bullies? 

"Omg, eww, you have a tiny Coho! Your pod must be poor! What, you couldnt get a sockeye?"

Orcas are not whales. Those stupid peanut heads out here in the Puget Sound are nothing but a blight on the whale population. Before the 1940s Narwal, Gray, Humpback, Minke, and even a few sightings of Blue Whales. Orcas are a dangerous ocean dolphin that actively hunt whales and sharks. I wish people out here would understand that.

[UltraBudgie]

Orcas are not whales. Those stupid peanut heads out here in the Puget Sound are nothing but a blight on the whale population. Before the 1940s Narwal, Gray, Humpback, Minke, and even a few sightings of Blue Whales. Orcas are a dangerous ocean dolphin that actively hunt whales and sharks. I wish people out here would understand that.

This man whales.



Stupid AI-generated search results. I mean if you can find a simple picture of a dolphin-with-pretentions wearing a fish on its head, what good is the Internet? All this for nothing?

[Sirius]

Showboating.  Sharks does the same and it's pretty terrifying.

[UltraBudgie]

Today the Grund picked it up.

I have been tracking the progress of the fad of stories about the fad of orcas wearing fish on their heads.

A fascinating example of social contagion.


Once one does it, others feel left out and must have their own fish-on-head story:

Salmon hats are a perfect example of what researchers call a "fad" — a behaviour initiated by one or two individuals.

This is then temporarily picked up by others before it's abandoned.

Deborah Giles, an orca researcher at the University of Washington, is equally confused, commenting: "Honestly, your guess is as good as mine."

https://www.thesun.co.uk/tech/32024434/k...ats-trend/

"They're completely social, so this is some sort of social communication."

"Within a few weeks, the other two pods also exhibited the behavior, which served no known function and fizzled out after the year.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-c...-1.7397920

Researchers are still baffled by the abrupt resurgence.

“Honestly, we have no idea why this started again, why it happens or why it seems to be started again”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024...almon-hats

Much like humans, orcas are known to indulge in changing fashions and fads within their communities

https://nypost.com/2024/11/28/us-news/or...-37-years/

Researchers are now speculating about the reasons behind the revival of this behavior.

https://www.jpost.com/science/science-ar...cle-831595

Perhaps we will never understand the motivations of these amazing creatures.

[Karl12]

They mix in behavioral fads like screwing with yachts with some genuine quirky behavior... like fish hats. 

Some interesting speculation below about the boat attacks (it also brings up their 'salmon hat' wearing antics).

Apparently the Iberian pod are just having a laugh.