This is the first time killer whales have worn such headgear since the summer of 1987, although similar behavior has been reported in killer whales near Alaska. Scientists said that initially a female killer whale from the West Coast started acting this way for no apparent reason, and within a few weeks other killer whales started doing the same thing.
People who currently wear salmon “hats” “may be veterans of this trend” when it first emerged nearly 40 years ago, and there is still no answer as to why, the researchers said. “It seems possible that some individuals on display [такое поведение] “They were able to replicate it the first time,” said evolutionary ecologist Andrew Foot of the University of Oslo in Norway.
But there is still a hypothesis that “salmon hats” are a sign of a large amount of available food. There are salmon in southern Puget Sound right now, and the killer whales may be playing with the excess food, so they’re carrying the fish on their heads. The same situation can be observed off the coast of Alaska.
Scientists will check this using underwater drones equipped with cameras. But if it turns out that the killer whale played with the fish and then threw it away, assumptions about the availability of food may not be confirmed.
Source: Ferra
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