UPDATE: A83 has survived its first two years and is named Dusky! -January 2007

UPDATE: Stormy has gone missing and is presumed dead-July 2006

UPDATE: Misty's calf is now officially ID'd as A83.-September 2005

The A12s are another well-known family. They are often seen in Johnstone Strait and on Orca-Live. They also seem to be remarkably free of the high mortality rate in calves; as of 2005, we know of only 1 whale that has died in this family, and he was 39.
The matriarch of the A12s hasn't changed since we began the study; therefore, there isn't much history on them! :) Which is a good thing, in this case!
The A12s are usually easily identified by Nimpkish's (A33) tall, straight fin (as you can see in these OL captures). And, now that Echo (A55) is beginning to spout, his fin is getting pretty tall too. While this might make them easy to confuse with the A30s, Scimitar (A12), the matriarch, is pretty easy to identify in her own way: her fin is sharp and slightly curved and fairly tall for a female.
In 1989, or 1990, with Echo(A55)'s birth, a new sound was added to the pod's dialect. That distinctive sound is now the hallmark of the A12s.
The A1 pod, made up of the A12s, the A36s, and the A30s, are all very well known. However, in the 1970s when they were first identified, over half of our encounters showed the three matrilines together.
By the 1990s, only about 14% of the encounters showed the three matrilines together. However, they still travel with each other more than with other Northern Residents.
Speaking of spending time apart, since Simoom (A34) now has FIVE calves, she is beginning to spend more time away from her mom, forming a submatriline, the A12-A34s. But that doesn't mean she's leaving entirely!
Simoom's five calves are: Echo (A55), Misty (A62), Eclipse (A67), Stormy (A74), and most recently, Hope (A80). And now Simoom is a first-time grandma, and Scimitar a grand-grandma (!) with the birth of Misty's first calf, A83.
In 1995, the A12s were hit by a large pleasure boat. Simoom got some cuts from the encounter, and Pulteney seemed to have been injured more severely, though they all seemed all right later on.
The only member of the family that died, to our knowledge, was Scimitar's oldest son, Pulteney (A31), up until 2006, when Stormy, Simoom's third calf, unexpectedly disappeared at the age of 6.