Northern Resident Killer Whales
A living field guide to the clans, pods and family lines of the fish-eating killer whales that range through coastal British Columbia and Southeast Alaska.
Search by family label, pod or clan. We’ll take you directly to the matching catalogue results.
Meet the clan callers
Northern Resident killer whales are a threatened, fish-eating population organized into three acoustic clans—A, G and R. Within those clans are pods and matrilines whose distinctive calls, long family bonds and learned traditions have been followed for decades.
Salmon are central to Northern Resident ecology. Government recovery documents identify Chinook salmon as especially important, with Chum salmon also playing a major seasonal role. Many Northern Resident families are famous for visiting the rubbing beaches of northeastern Vancouver Island, where they glide through shallow water and rub their bodies over smooth stones.
This first WUTA edition begins at the pod level. The older DFO photo-identification catalogue provides a clear structural baseline, while newer DFO census work and OrcaLab field observations show how matrilines continue to split and change. Individual whale profiles and photography can be layered in as each identity is re-verified.
Best Northern Resident population estimate for 2023 reported by the Government of Canada in its 2026 recovery-progress update.
Acoustic clans: A, G and R.
Year DFO’s long-running annual Northern Resident photo-identification census began.
Current Canadian Species at Risk Act status for the Northern Resident population.
Matriline → pod → clan
The matriline is the core family unit: a mother and her descendants. Closely related matrilines have historically been grouped into pods. Pods that share characteristic calls are grouped into acoustic clans.
Why do the family labels change?
Family groups can split permanently as generations grow. DFO explicitly notes that the number of distinct matrilineal groups that must be censused has increased over time because of this splitting.
Does the letter tell you the clan?
Not always. For example, I-designated pods occur in both A and G clans. The clan is defined by acoustic tradition, not simply by the first letter of an ID.
This catalogue uses a structural baseline
The most complete publicly available DFO photo-identification catalogue remains an older structural reference, while newer census updates focus on population status and life-history events rather than republishing every pod and matriline in a single current catalogue.
For that reason, this WUTA edition uses DFO’s 2010 pod/matriline structure as a clearly labeled baseline, then adds newer DFO population information and recent OrcaLab field context. It does not assume that every 2010 matriline label still represents an unchanged modern travel group.
Explore the Northern Residents
Search by pod, matriline or clan. Open any entry for the historical DFO structure and current field context where authoritative recent information is available.
01 A1 Pod A Clan
Catalogue structure
- DFO’s 2010 photo-ID catalogue grouped the A12, A30 and A36 matrilines within A1 Pod.
- Modern field reporting often uses descendant family labels such as the A34s, A50s and A54s as these family lines have continued to split over time.
Pod notes
- A1 Pod is among the Northern Resident groups most strongly associated with the Johnstone Strait / Queen Charlotte Strait study area.
- OrcaLab’s 2026 field summaries repeatedly documented A34-, A50- and A54-family groups in the region.
02 A4 Pod A Clan
Catalogue structure
- DFO’s 2010 catalogue grouped the A11 and A24 matrilines within A4 Pod.
- Later field reporting includes descendant groups such as the A35s and A73s, and recent OrcaLab reports continue to document A4-family whales.
Pod notes
- A4 Pod is part of A Clan and has deep historical importance to Northern Resident research.
- Springer / A73 came from this extended family and became internationally known after her successful 2002 rehabilitation and return to Northern Resident waters.
03 A5 Pod A Clan
Catalogue structure
- DFO’s 2010 catalogue grouped the A8, A23 and A25 matrilines within A5 Pod.
- Current OrcaLab reporting frequently refers to the A23s, A25s and A42s as A5-family groups.
Pod notes
- A5 Pod is one of the best-known Northern Resident family networks in the Johnstone Strait region.
- A60 / Fife is a prominent adult male in the A23 family; the A42s have also spent extended periods farther south in the Salish Sea in recent years.
04 B1 Pod A Clan
Catalogue structure
- DFO’s 2010 catalogue listed the B7 matriline under B1 Pod.
Pod notes
- B1 is one of the legacy pod designations within A Clan.
- This first WUTA edition keeps the pod-level structure conservative until newer fully reconciled photo-ID material is available for individual profiles.
05 C1 Pod A Clan
Catalogue structure
- DFO’s 2010 catalogue listed the C6 and C10 matrilines under C1 Pod.
Pod notes
- OrcaLab documented the C10s in the Johnstone Strait area again in August 2025, including rubbing-beach use and associations with other Northern Resident groups.
06 D1 Pod A Clan
Catalogue structure
- DFO’s 2010 catalogue listed the D7 and D11 matrilines under D1 Pod.
Pod notes
- D1 is part of the wider A Clan structure documented through decades of Northern Resident photo-identification and acoustic research.
07 H1 Pod A Clan
Catalogue structure
- DFO’s 2010 catalogue listed the H5 matriline under H1 Pod.
Pod notes
- H1 is one of the named A Clan pods in the long-running Northern Resident catalogue structure.
08 I1 Pod A Clan
Catalogue structure
- DFO’s 2010 catalogue listed the I19 and I40 matrilines under I1 Pod.
Pod notes
- The letter used in an individual or pod ID does not by itself tell you the acoustic clan; I-designated pods occur in both A and G clans.
09 I2 Pod A Clan
Catalogue structure
- DFO’s 2010 catalogue listed the I22 matriline under I2 Pod.
Pod notes
- I2 belongs to A Clan despite its I designation—one reason the Northern Resident naming system can be confusing without the clan/pod context.
10 I18 Pod A Clan
Catalogue structure
- DFO’s 2010 catalogue listed the I17 and I18 matrilines under I18 Pod.
Pod notes
- DFO’s 2022 census update identified I17 and I18 among matrilines that were not fully censused that year, illustrating why recent population details can carry uncertainty.
11 G1 Pod G Clan
Catalogue structure
- DFO’s 2010 catalogue grouped the G3, G16, G17, G29 and G31 matrilines within G1 Pod.
Pod notes
- G Clan has its own acoustic traditions distinct from A and R clans.
- Long-term DFO analyses show G Clan had the highest mean growth rate of the three clans over the full census time series through 2022.
12 G12 Pod G Clan
Catalogue structure
- DFO’s 2010 catalogue listed the G2, G8 and G27 matrilines under G12 Pod.
Pod notes
- G12 is one of the legacy pod designations within G Clan.
- Northern Resident groups from G Clan are often encountered differently in space and season than the A Clan families most familiar around northeastern Vancouver Island.
13 I11 Pod G Clan
Catalogue structure
- DFO’s 2010 catalogue listed the I11 and I15 matrilines under I11 Pod.
Pod notes
- OrcaLab has repeatedly described the I15s as G Clan whales and has documented winter as well as summer visits in the Johnstone Strait region.
14 I31 Pod G Clan
Catalogue structure
- DFO’s 2010 catalogue listed the I31 matriline under I31 Pod.
Pod notes
- OrcaLab field records show I31-family whales associating with other G Clan groups in the region.
- Modern descendant labels may differ from the older pod-level catalogue structure as matrilines split.
15 R1 Pod R Clan
Catalogue structure
- DFO’s 2010 catalogue grouped the R2, R5, R13 and R17 matrilines within R1 Pod.
Pod notes
- R Clan is the smallest of the three clans in DFO’s 2022 census estimate.
- OrcaLab documented R13s and R18s returning to the Johnstone Strait area in August 2025 after several years without R Clan detections there, and R18s were again reported in 2026.
16 W1 Pod R Clan · historical catalogue
Catalogue structure
- DFO’s 2010 catalogue retained W1 Pod with the W3 matriline.
Pod notes
- W1 is included here as part of the historical Northern Resident pod structure.
- This WUTA edition does not assign a present-day living membership to W1 without a newer official catalogue explicitly resolving that status.
Where the facts come from
This WUTA guide is independently written and intentionally conservative where public sources do not yet provide one fully current, consolidated family catalogue.
- Fisheries and Oceans Canada — Northern Resident photo-identification catalogue and population status to 2010
- Fisheries and Oceans Canada — Northern Resident population status update in 2022
- Government of Canada — 2026 recovery-action progress report
- Government of Canada — Resident killer whale recovery strategy
- OrcaLab — Northern Resident ecology, communication and social organization
- OrcaLab — current 2025–2026 field summaries
- Bay Cetology — Northern Resident monitoring and 2026 photo-ID contribution project
Population values are dated to the source year shown. Pod and matriline relationships can evolve as family groups split, calves are born, individuals disappear and researchers reconcile new photo-identification records.
