A4s-A11s/A35s/A24s

Broken Family

A10~A4~Yakat~Kelsey~A19~A47~Skagit~Skeena~Nahwitti~Yakat's 2007 Calf~Kiltik~A76~Nalau~Racey~Canoona~Sunny~Roller~Siwiti~
A65~A41~Sutlej~A68~Springer~A49~Scylla~Surf~Schooner~Magin~Toba

Above, the A11s prepare to sleep in Tribune Channel, scanned from Beyond the Whales by Alexandra Morton.

UPDATE:Yakat has amazingly given birth to a new calf! -January 2007

UPDATE:Skeena's fin has been severely damaged.-August 2006

UPDATE: Racey has gone missing and is presumed dead. Canoona was hit by a boat; the condition is unknown.-July 2006

The A4 pod has always been one of closeness, drama, and often sadness. It has quite a history.
Originally, the A11s and A24s were one matriline, united by the matriarch A10. In the 1970s, when the pod was first seen, they were known as 'The Six', and no one knew whether they were a subgroup of Stubbs' pod (the A1s), a group that had drifted away from one of the other pods, or what. In 1979, however, Bigg 'cleaned up the As', in his words, and figured it all out. The A4s were their own little pod, now consisting of a bull, three cows, one juvenile and a calf.
The A4s have always been warier than the A1s/A5s with boats. At first, when approached, they would surround the youngsters just like protective porpoises. Now, they are more relaxed, but they remain much more wary than the other Apod whales.
At least now they have good reason. Their story is sad, touching, and sometimes bloody.
They were originally named after A4, a big male probably born in 1952, with two nicks on his fin, the larger one near the tip. He was mostly likely brother to A10, the matriarch. He died in 1984.
A10 was probably born in 1941, and was most likely the sister of A4. She was the matriarch of the A4 pod. Around 1958, she possibly had Yakat(A11), and around 1967 she probably had Kelsey (A24). In 1973, she had another calf, A19, but sadly, that calf died the same year. In 1983, she had her last calf, A47, who also died prematurely. But this calf's story was much sadder...
In 1983, A10 and her latest calf A47 were at the Rubbing Beaches, and a whale-watching boat was nearby, when gunshots were heard from that area. Concerned, the boat went to the beaches to see what had happened. A10 appeared beside the boat, shoving her calf, who was bleeding from a gun-shot wound. She pushed A47 up against the boat, clearly showing the wounds. To the operator of the boat, it seemed as though she was saying, "Look what you humans have done!"
A10 and A47 both died that year.
Their mother's death, and a year later, their uncle's, left Yakat, then 26, and Kelsey, then 17, in charge of the pod. The A4s now consisted of Yakat, her daughters Skagit and Siwiti, her son Skeena, Kelsey, and her daughter Sutlej. The pod was growing.
Around 1986, the A4s began to split up. Kelsey, Sutlej, and the newborn A49 became the A24 matriline, and Yakat, Skagit, Skeena, and Siwiti became the A11s.

Above: Yakat and Kelsey and their families pass Alert Bay, BC, scanned from Beyond the Whales By Alexandra Morton.
The two matrilines still spent most of their time together (still do actually). About 90% of the time, they are encountered together (that's not an actual percent, its just my estimate). Kelsey and Yakat are still very close.
But the matrilines have changed. Yakat's family has grown-while Siwiti died, Yakat had another child, Nahwitti, and Skagit started her own family, with her children Kiltik, Racey, Sunny, and the newest addition Roller. The latest update came when Kiltik and Racey both had their first calves.
In fact, Skagit's family has grown so much, she has formed her own matriline, the A11-A35 matriline. In 1999, her family was seen for the first time, travelling far away from her mother's pod.
While Yakat's family grew, Kelsey encountered tragedy after tragedy. Five of her now-eight offspring have died, three within the first year. Her first grandchild died in its first year as well, while her second granddaughter disappeared the same year Sutlej died-her only child to pass the age of 15 so far.
Notice that I said her second grandchild 'disappeared'? She didn't die, despite what everyone thought. No, this fiesty little youngster, A73, showed up in Puget Sound, sick, under-nourished and with a dangerous fondness for boats. Who knows how she got all the way down there? The little orphan captured the hearts of Puget Sound-ers, and a daring rescue operation, the first of its kind, was launched to capture her, nurse her back to health, and release her back into the wild. Now, Springer is healthy, happy, and back with her great aunt Yakat.
Now, Kelsey's family consists of Kelsey herself, her daughter Schooner, and her two younger children, Magin and Toba.
The A4s have become three separate matrilines, although their calls and history are so entwined it's hard to imagine them separate. The three matrilines are the A11s (Skeena, Nahwitti, Yakat and Springer), the A24s (Kelsey and children), and the A35s (Skagit and children/grandchildren). Now a fairly stable group of 15 whales, they usually spend most of their time together, a close, if rather broken, family.
The calls of the A11s and the A35s are pretty much the same and very hard to tell apart. They sound more like the A5s than the A1s.
In 2005, all of the A-pod whales were seen by the people at OrcaLab. Unusually, the A11 matriline (Yakat, Skeena, Nahwitti and Springer) spent a lot of time in the lower part of Johnstone Strait (east). They don't usually go down there that often. The A8 matriline from the A5 pod also spent a lot of time 'down there'.
In 2006, tragedy once again struck the unfortunate pod in the form of a boat. Canoona, only 2 at the time, was hit by a boat in Johnstone Strait on July 14. Only a week later, we received news that Canoona's mother, Racey, had disappeared and was presumed dead. It is unknown if this was linked to the collision. Racey was Skagit's first calf to die.
They have the most deceased whales in the A-pod. The known deceased whales are: A10 (1941-1983), A4 (1952-1984), A19 (1973-1973), A47 (1983-1983), Siwiti (A48; 1983-1996), A65 (1996-1996), A41 (1981-1981), Sutlej (A45; 1983-2001), A68 (1997-1997), A49 (1985-1986), Scylla (A53; 1988-1992), Surf (A58; 1992-1993), A76 (2002-2002), and Racey.