Michael Bigg
| Michael A. Bigg, Ph.D. | |
|---|---|
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| Born | December 22, 1939 London, England |
| Died | October 18, 1990 Duncan, British Columbia, Canada |
| Residence | Duncan, British Columbia |
| Citizenship | Canadian |
| Fields | Cetology, marine biology |
| Institutions | Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans |
| Alma mater | University of British Columbia |
| Known for | killer whale research |
Dr. Michael A. Bigg (1939–1990) was a Canadian marine biologist who is recognized as the founder of modern research on killer whales. With his colleagues, he developed new techniques for studying killer whales and conducted the first population census of the animals. Bigg's work in wildlife photo-identification enabled the longitudinal study of individual killer whales, their travel patterns, and their social relationships in the wild, and revolutionized the study of cetaceans.
Born Michael Andrew Bigg in London in 1939, his 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 an immense love of nature. Bigg attended Cowichan Senior Secondary School in Duncan, British Columbia and then the University of British Columbia, where he studied falcons, water shrews, and harbor seals. His PhD, awarded in 1972, was based on the reproductive ecology of harbor seals.
In recent decades, the public has come to appreciate and be fascinated by killer whales. However, for at least a century before the mid-1960s, killer whales were widely feared as dangerous, savage predators, a reputation based on rumor and speculation. In the waters of the Pacific Northwest, the shooting of killer whales was accepted and even encouraged by local governments and moreover by other governments throughout the world. During the mid-1960s and early 1970s, a change in global opinion saw the development of public & scientific awareness of the species, starting with the first live-capture and display of a killer whale known as Moby Doll that had been harpooned off Saturna Island in 1964.
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