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.

The influenza strain known as Eurasian H5N1 has been causing outbreaks across Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. It appears to have arrived in North America late in 2021. This strain of avian flu has been identified globally in more than 100 different species of wild birds. The identification of the influenza in the United States is alarming for a number of reasons. This bird flu can spread quickly along migratory bird routes and has the potential to contaminate birds raised on commercial poultry farms. The virus also has been found to infect wild mammals such as foxes, skunks and raccoons. In July 2022, stranded seals along Maine’s coast have tested positive for the virus.