When it comes to humans, fashion trends are largely a mystery. For many of them, nobody thinks that they objectively look good, but everyone seems to follow the trends anyway. And then everyone laughs at how silly they looked once the trend passes.

Maybe that is what is happening in the world of male Humpback Dolphins, except they don’t have TikTok as an explanation for how the trend spreads.

Scientists with Western Australia’s Department of Biodiversity, Conservation, and Attractions (DBCA) has been monitoring humpback dolphins off the northern coast of the country, and they have started seeing them searing sea sponges on their heads. Holly Raudino is a senior research scientist at DBCA, and recently talked to ABC News about it, saying:

“They are (the sponges) different shapes and sizes, different colours, but it all seems to be in this one particular area.”

From what can be pieced together, the male dolphins find the sea sponges when they are looking for a mate and keep them on their head. This is a signal for the females to express interest. Not entirely unlike humans bringing the ladies a bouquet of flowers.

While it is only the humpback dolphins in this one area that have been seen doing it so far, it could spread to other pods over time. Or, the trend could die out as quickly as it went viral within the local dolphin community.

These dolphins aren’t the first sea animals to try wearing things on their heads. In 1987, a pod of orcas in Puget Sound were seen wearing dead salmon on their heads for quite some time. It spread across multiple pods in the region, but then they suddenly stopped.

In 2024, this trend seemed to come back again for a while, but it is not known why.

Trying to figure out fashion in humans is hard enough, so who knows if scientists will be able figure out the different tastes among ocean mammals anytime soon.

If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read about the mysterious “pyramids” discovered in Antarctica. What are they?