User:Clayoquot/Michael Bigg

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... that Canadian researchers led by Michael Bigg discovered that many Orcas live with their mothers for as long as she is alive?

...that in just three weeks in 1970, a research team led by Michael Bigg photographed every Orca on the British Columbia coast?

Michael Bigg (1939-1990) was a Canadian marine biologist and recognized as the founder of modern research on Orcas.[1] He worked as head of marine mammal research at the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans Pacific Biological Station in Nanaimo, B.C.


Contents

[edit] Early life

Born in London in 1939, Bigg's family moved to the west coast of Canada when he was eight years old. In his youth, Bigg enjoyed exploring the British Columbia wilderness. According to his father, newspaper publisher Andy Bigg, Michael's early life experiences ingrained in him with an immense love of nature. Bigg attended Cowichan Senior Secondary School in Duncan, BC and then the University of British Columbia, where he studied Falcons, Water Shrews, and Harbour Seals. His Ph.D., awarded in 1972, was based on the reproductive ecology of Harbour Seals.[1]

[edit] Research

Photo-identification enabled the local population of Orcas to be counted each year rather than estimated, and enabled great insight into Orca lifecycles and social structures.

The dorsal fin and saddle patch of Resident Orca.
The dorsal fin and saddle patch of Resident Orca.

Individual Orcas can be identified from a good photograph of the animal's dorsal fin and saddle patch, taken when it surfaces. Variations such as nicks, scratches, and tears on the dorsal fin, and the pattern of white or grey in the saddle patch, are sufficient to distinguish Orcas from each other.


First, the Orca population was far smaller than originally believed.


The second discovery was that Resident Orcas have the most stable social structures of any animal species. Pods of Orcas had previously been assumed to consist of a few adult males and a harem of potential female mates. Bigg's team slowly realized that Orca pods are matrilineal: Orcas travel not with their mates, but with their mothers and maternal relatives. The basis of Resident Orca groupings is the rule that each animal follows his or her mother for as long as she is alive.

Photo-identification has since been used to study other cetacean species, including Humpback Whales and Right Whales.

Bigg's killer whale research projects eventually ended, and he was reassigned to other projects. Still, he continued his research on his own time for 14 years. Bigg's office became "a Mecca for marine mammal researchers interested in the species, who would seek his advice before embarking on studies of their own... Students from around the world...received tutorship in the Bigg school of killer whale research, and are now applying the benefit of (his) experience in studies of killer whale populations worldwide."[1]

Although he is best known for his work with Orcas, Bigg spent most of his career studying other marine mammals. He researched Northern Fur Seals in B.C. and the Pribilof Islands of Alaska. Bigg directed the establishment of a colony of Sea Otters in Alaska, and conducted research on Stellar Sea Lions and Harbour Seals.[1]

[edit] Death and memorials

In 1984, Bigg was diagnosed with leukemia. He died in 1990 at the age of 51, and his ashes were scattered in Johnstone Strait. Attendees, and the press, noted that more than thirty Orcas apppeared in the waters in time for the ceremony.[1] The site was later officially renamed the Robson Bight (Michael Bigg) Ecological Reserve, encompassing 1,248 hectares of water and xxxx hectares of land. The reserve includes one of the few "rubbing beaches" in the world, where Orcas gather to rub against smooth underwater pebbles.

A female Resident Orca, born shortly before Bigg's death in 1990, is unofficially named "M.B." (her official name is G46).[1] The Dr. Michael Bigg Memorial Bursary was created at the University of Victoria for students of marine biology.

[edit] Selected publications

  • BIGG, M.A. 1982. An assessment of killer whale (Orcinus orca) stocks off Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Rep.Int.Whal. Comm., 32:655-666.
  • BIGG, M.A., I.B.MACASKIE, AND G. ELLIS. 1976. Abundance and movements of killer whales off eastern and southern Vancouver Island, with comments on management. Arctic Biol.Sta., Ste. Anne de Bellevue, Quebec. 20 pp.
  • Bigg, M.A., G.M. Ellis, J.K.B. Ford and K.C. Balcomb. 1987. Killer whales - a study of their identification, genealogy and natural history in British Columbia and Washington State. Phantom Press, Nanaimo, British Columbia
  • Bigg, M.A., P.F. Olesiuk, G.M. Ellis, J.K.B. Ford and K.C. Balcomb. 1990. Social organization and genealogy of resident killer whales (Orcinus orca) in the coastal waters of British Columbia and Washington State. Report of the International Whaling Commission (Special Issue 12):383-405.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f T.W. Paterson. "This doctor left a Bigg legacy", Harbour City Star, Jul 24, 2002.

[edit] External links

Category:Canadian marine biologists Category:UBC alumni Category:People from British Columbia

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