Power of Three

Orcas Trending

I am rerunning the photo of the orca that I took in Canada because I wanted to talk briefly about the orcas that are ramming boats in the Mediterranean, even sinking at least one. One theory for this behavior is that they aren't be aggressive but rather one dominant female orca started the behavior and it's become a social trend. Although incurring boat damage is no laughing matter, I do find the idea of orcas adopting trends much like humans do is pretty delightful. It is said that one orca actually started a trend where the orcas would wear a salmon on their heads. Much less destructive and quite a hoot. After a time the trend got old and the orcas stopped doing it. We can hope the boat ramming trend will also get old enough for the behavior to stop. I never saw the belugas at the zoo adopting a trend, but I've including this excerpt because the belugas, which spit in the wild apparently, started spitting at trainers and volunteers for a laugh, although in the winter, a freezing cold water drench was not so funny to the recipient. Mayak, the model for my beluga in the Power Rising trilogy, used to spit water when she just wanted you to go away. On an unrelated note, the pitch for my new novel went very well. The editor wants to see the manuscript when I am finished editing, So. Fingers still crossed.