Orcas have fads, and I am thoroughly enjoying this knowledge. I’m hoping that you will too.
This summer, orcas have been dismantling rudders off of boats in the Strait of Gibraltar, thus complicating the lives of Spaniards in Southern Spain who would prefer not to have their boats sink. Scientists initially speculated that a female elder orca might have been injured by one of these boats because she’s the one who has been teaching other orcas to do this. Now others are curious if this is simply the current orca fad.
Because it turns out that orcas have fads!
Less dangerous and more silly, there was the Great Salmon Hat Fad of 1987. Basically, a single orca killed a salmon and began wearing it on her head. Then she became an orcafluencer and let all the cool kid orcas that they should doing it too. They did, and it lasted one summer. In 1988, a few others tried to bring it back, but by that point, salmon hats were basically crocs.
Isn’t this neato?
–Renee Roederer
Smuggling Grace 