The T49As are one of the most frequent families to visit the Salish Sea, but they’ve also been known for decades as one of the most wide-ranging family groups of Bigg’s killer whales, regularly being seen along the coast from Alaska to Oregon. Some matrilines seem to prefer certain sub-regions of the overall West Coast Transient range; the Salish Sea is becoming a more common location to see many of them, but the extended T49 family have always been regulars here.

It's hard to believe that when I first met the T49As in 2009, the matriline was just mom T49A Nan with her two firstborn sons, T49A1 Noah and T49A2 Jude, because now I think of her as one of the more prolific Bigg’s killer whale mothers. At the time I met her, she was traveling with her sister T49B Van (short for Vancouver), but as the years have gone by and their respective families have grown, the sisters seem to meet less and less often. Their younger brother, T49C Neilson, does still visit with them fairly regularly.

Between 2011 and 2022 T49A would have four more offspring: T49A3 Nat, T49A4 Neptune, T49A5 Nebula, and T49A6 Charlie II. Incredibly she has five sons, with Nebula being her only daughter! At 39 years old as of 2025, she might be be “done” reproducing. If so, two things always come to mind when I think about her future legacy: 1) What it would look like if all five of her sons ever traveled together in adulthood and 2) That the future of the T49A matriline might rely entirely on the reproductive success of her single daughter.
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As often happens with Bigg’s families, as they grow to have five or more members, dispersal becomes more likely. It was second-born son T49A2 who dispersed first and most permanently, beginning to spend time away from the family in 2013. He has periodically returned to his natal family group, but has become a true roving male, often seen with other male companions over the years including his brothers T49A1 or T49A3,  uncle T49C, adult male T51 (who used to be an associate of his grandmother T49), and other young males such as T65A3 and T50B1.

In 2023, T49A2 and T51 spent six weeks in a tidal lagoon called Barnes Lake on Prince of Wales Island in Alaska. While the entered on their own, a combination of low tides and dense kelp beds appeared to deter them from exiting either of the narrow channels back out to open waters. Eventually, responders made the decision to intervene to help the duo leave the lake. After cutting back some of the kelp, they lured the males out by playing Bigg’s killer whale vocalizations from known associates. You can hear about this rescue effort from Jared Towers of Bay Cetology, who was on scene for the effort, on this episode of the After the Breach podcast.

T49A2 is the one most likely to travel separate from the core matriline, but other members of the family have spent time away from mom T49A as well. In 2019, at the age of 8, T49A3 spent about a month traveling solo in the Salish Sea. T49A1 also sporadically breaks off, sometimes traveling on his own, but often traveling for part of the winter with his brother T49A2. He’s seemed to do more of this after the birth of T49A6.

While all of the members of the T49As have their fans, none is as popular as the youngest, T49A6. While born as a normal-looking calf, at some point during his early months he suffered a rostrum injury that healed in such a fashion that the front of his face is blunt, giving him a “smooshed” look. He also has an underbite, with a couple of his teeth visible even when the rest of his mouth is closed. These features have been particularly apparent during his first few years, since calves often surface higher than adults with their full face out of the water. As a result of this distinct look, he was nicknamed Charlie II, both in homage to T1 Charlie Chin who also had an underbite, and for Charles II of Spain who was known for the Hapsburg jaw. Having survived for years now, it doesn’t appear that this injury will impede Charlie’s survival at all.