Meet the Bigg's matrilines

A matriline is a killer whale social unit made up of a female and her living descendants. Southern Resident killer whales tend to travel in pods made up of multiple related matrilines, but Bigg's killer whales tend to travel as single matrilineal units. Bigg's used to be infrequent visitors to the Salish Sea, but as they've become more and more common we've gotten to know their individual and family histories better.

We've created this page to help document and share the stories of Bigg's killer whale matrilines that utilize the Salish Sea. We've started with few of the better known groups, and will continue to add more over time.