An orca was spotted balancing a salmon on its head in late October near Washington’s Kitsap Peninsula, according to the Orca Network.
This specific killer whale is known to marine biologists and whale watchers as J27, also known as Blackberry. However, this isn’t the first time that a killer whale was seen with a “salmon hat.” According to Deborah Giles, science and research director of Wild Orca (a nonprofit conservation and research group), orcas were seen balancing salmon on their heads in the late 1980s. In early November, Giles said she saw a southern resident killer whale balancing a salmon on its head — the second recent observation of it, but it is unsure if this orca is J27. Giles explained that this behavior, its meaning still unclear, apparently faded away for decades. She speculated that a whale exhibiting this type of behavior could be saving salmon to share with another member of its pod.
However, these southern resident killer whales, which typically spend several months in the inland waters of Puget Sound each year, are critically endangered and protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. The whales rely on fish—preferably Chinook salmon—and live in three pods called J, K and L.
The southern residents have been the center of attention of conservation efforts for decades. Starting in the 1960s, many southern resident whales were captured and transported to marine parks. By 1974, only 71 were left in the wild. Since then, the population has fluctuated, reaching a high of 99 whales in 1995, but declining since then.
“It’s just not happening fast enough,” Giles said. “What we really need to be focusing on is making sure there’s ample prey for these whales throughout their entire range and throughout the entire year.”
Disclaimer: This article is part of The Stupe and is satire
