I know we spent all of last week in the water but I couldn’t resist taking another trip back to the ocean. Besides I wanted to illustrate that hybrid animals don’t just live on land.  Today we have the cross between a bottlenose dolphin and false killer whale.  Naturally, they decided to name it the Wholphin.

This is a rare hybrid species but they have been reported to occur in the wild. Currently there are only two Wholphin’s held in captivity. Both of them can be found at the Sea Life Park in Hawaii. Unlike the other hybrids discussed the creation of the wholphin was more of an accident.  It just so happened that a female bottlenose was sharing a tank with a male false killer whale. As you can imagine the trainers were surprised to see the hybrid.  They were even more surprised when the wholphin produced her own offspring proving that she was fertile.  Unfortunately, it took three tries before she was able to produce a calf that was healthy enough to survive the harsh world.  In fact, it was so healthy that only a few months after birth it was the size of a one year old dolphin.

The appearance fo the wholphin can vary depending on the parents but generally it appears to take the middle ground.  For example, one of the captive wholphins has 66 teeth which is between both parents. Her dad, the false killer whale, has 44 teeth while her mom, the bottlenose dolphin, has 88 teeth. I guess wholphins just walk the line and don’t want to upset anyone by taking a stance.

If you are ever in Hawaii, and I hope to be someday soon, then make sure you check out the Sea Life Center for the two Wholphin’s.

        
        
    

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