## Orcas start wearing dead salmon hats again after ditching the trend for 37 years

Authored by livescience.com

Northwest Pacific orcas have started wearing salmon hats again, bringing back a bizarre trend first described in the 1980s, researchers say.

Last month, scientists and whale watchers spotted orcas (Orcinus orca) in South Puget Sound and off Point No Point in Washington State swimming with dead fish on their heads .

Researchers think the orcas sporting salmon hats now may be veterans of the trend when it first appeared nearly 40 years ago.

Back in the 1980s, the trend only lasted a year; by the summer of 1988, dead fish were totally passé and salmon hats disappeared from the West Coast orca population.

Salmon is probably too small to fit securely under orcas' pectoral fins, so the marine mammals may have opted for the top of their heads instead.

Camera-equipped drones could help researchers monitor salmon hat-wearing orcas in a way that was not possible 37 years ago.

Whatever the reason for the behavior, Giles said it's been fun to watch it come back in style. »

### Yes, You Can Cancel Holiday Plans With Your Family Because Of Politics

Authored by huffpost.com

Before I knew the results of the 2024 presidential election, I gave myself permission to do something I’d never done before: change my holiday plans.

(A candle-shaped cookie can look quite phallic when turned on its side and decorated with flesh-colored icing, for example.).

For many voters, spending holidays with family was nonnegotiable before Donald Trump came onto the political scene. »

### Russia will use all means of destruction if Ukraine acquires nuclear arms, warns Putin

Authored by firstpost.com

In this case, we will use all, I want to emphasise this, precisely all means of destruction available to Russia.

“If the country which we are essentially at war with now becomes a nuclear power, what do we do? »

### Conservative US influencer Candace Owens is barred from New Zealand weeks after a ban from Australia

Authored by apnews.com

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The U.S. conservative political commentor Candace Owens was refused a visa to enter New Zealand for a speaking engagement because she had been banned from another country, immigration officials said Thursday.

Owens is scheduled to speak at a series of events in several Australian cities and in Auckland, New Zealand, in February and March next year.

New Zealand officials did not refer to Owens’ political views in a statement on Thursday. »

### Musk Wants to Abolish Consumer Agency That Has Been a 'Model of Efficiency'

Authored by commondreams.org

"But there's no reason to think facts or evidence have anything to do with Musk's views," said Weissman.

"In short, Musk is calling for elimination of the consumer protection regulator over a business line he seems poised to enter...

"The message: They think you are stupid and can't read and are going to make your life worse in order to enrich themselves. »

## In pictures

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