Recently, orcas have been spotted balancing salmon on their heads once again, sparking excited conservations within the marine mammal community.

The news first spread on Oct. 29, when Orca Network, a whale sighting and conservation group, published an image of Orca J27 balancing a dead salmon on his head.

The second sighting was at the end of November, reported by Dr. Deborah Giles, science and research director at the nonprofit Wild Orca, and Orca Researcher at the University of Washington. Giles was unable to determine if the whale she saw was J27.

This phenomenon was first observed among a population of Southern resident killer whales during the summer of 1987 in the northeast Pacific. Randomly, one female orca sported the fashion statement, and within a few weeks, her entire pod, as well as neighboring pods, were participating. The trend disappeared as quickly as it arrived and has only been spotted a few times since.

It is especially notable that the recent sightings were two recorded instances viewed only a month apart.

Despite the original fad taking place nearly 40 years ago, researchers still lack definitive answers as to why the whales began the action in the first place. “Honestly, your guess is as good as mine,” Giles told New Scientist. “It could just be they’re getting enough to eat, … Just like you and me, when you get enough to eat, playing seems more reasonable and we tend to recreate and play and socialize when we’re not starving.”

Dwindling food availability has been a main concern for killer whale conservationists, particularly when it comes to Southern Residents. Earlier this year, Raincoast Conservation Foundation called for an emergency order for the keystone species, citing food scarcity as a major threat. Though Puget Sound, where this behavior was spotted, reported an unusually large population of chum salmon this year.

“So when they’re not getting enough to eat every day – throughout their entire range, 365 days a year – we just don’t see the types of social behavior that we might get to see, and they just don’t get to engage with them because they’re too busy trying to forage for food that’s patchy throughout their environment,” Giles explained to Chek News.

Using camera tracking, Giles and her team hope to glean the motivation behind the behavior, specifically what the whales do with their salmon when they are done wearing them. Giles says, “Over time, we may be able to gather enough information to show that, for instance, one carried a fish for 30 minutes or so, and then he ate it.”

Now, researchers and casual whale watchers alike are discussing where the behavior emerged from and whether this salmon-balancing act is making a larger comeback. “It does seem possible that some individuals that experienced [the behavior] the first time around may have started it again,” Andrew Foote, an evolutionary ecologist at the University of Oslo tells Live Science.

Giles and many others are convinced it was a fluke, including Monika Wieland Shields, director of the Orca Behavior Institute, who told Chek News, “In my opinion, it’s a stretch to say it was a salmon hat and an even greater stretch to say the fad is back off a single photo.”

Regardless, many are happy to see this whimsical, possibly social behavior make a comeback. Giles says, “So that was fun… It’s been a while since I’ve personally seen it.”