Advances in technology have allowed whale researchers to observe new prosocial behaviors such as food sharing and mutual grooming in orca whales. These newly observed cultural behaviors in addition to ‘fish hats’ and boat ramming may have impact on the survival of killer whale populations that exhibit these behaviors and ultimately for the entire species.

Fish hats? On whales? Sometimes in doing research for an article, I come across an odd story on social media. It’s strange enough that I feel compelled to dig deeper trying to find out if it’s an Internet legend or fact based. That was the case with a story I read about orca whales. The story stated that some orca’s in the waters near Seattle had adopted the fashion trend of wearing fish on their heads. Knowing a bit about orca aka killer whales in the wild, I had a healthy suspicion that this story was just that – a story. This article is investigating some of the odd behaviors of marine mammals.