Orcas are bringing back an '80s fashion trend: Hats made of salmon

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While human ladies were perplexing the fashion world with perms and shoulder-padded, pastel power suits in the late 1980s, orca ladies had their own fashion trend that perplexed the scientific world.

Starting in 1987, female orcas were spotted all around the Pacific Northwest wearing salmon on their heads like hats.

The trend lasted a little over a year — about as long as the side ponytail.

But now, like skinny jeans with pre-torn holes, there’s been a fashion revival in the orca world. The orca-fashionistas have brought back salmon hats.

One orca named Blackberry is credited with being the first to be spotted wearing a salmon hat, but soon several others joined in on the trend.

Photographers have been out in droves capturing images of the orcas in their hats. It’s like shooting fish in apparel.

There are several explanations being proposed by the experts for the fashion statement:

As female orcas can live to be 90, experts have speculated that veterans of the original episode could be reliving their youth. Alternatively, the behaviour could be linked to the unusually large number of salmon this year. Faced with more fish than they can eat in one sitting, are the whales carrying snacks to consume later?

Another possibility is that it’s some sort of game: orcas have long been recognized as highly intelligent and inventive apex hunters.

And of course, it’s possible that the female orcas think carrying around food on their head makes them more attractive.