Wholphin
Wholphin | |
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Kawili Kai, born to a female wholphin by a male dolphin, at 9 months of age in September 2005 | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Artiodactyla |
Infraorder: | Cetacea |
Superfamily: | Delphinoidea |
Family: | Delphinidae |
Hybrid: | Tursiops truncatus × Pseudorca crassidens |
A wholphin (portmanteau of whale and dolphin) is an extremely rare cetacean hybrid born from a mating of a female common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) with a male false killer whale (Pseudorca crassidens). The name implies a hybrid of whale and dolphin, although taxonomically, both are within the oceanic dolphin family, which is within the toothed whale parvorder. This type of hybrid was considered unexpected given the sometimes extreme size difference between a female common bottlenose dolphin (typically 2 meters long and 300 kilograms) and a male false killer whale (over 5 meters long and over 1,800 kilograms). Wholphins have been born in captivity and have also been reported in the wild.
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