Dolphin Hybrid

[fallencupid]

I was looking on the website today (marinebio.org) and reading about the rough-toothed dolphin and read that, "A rough-toothed dolphin was bred with a bottlenose in captivity producing a hybrid offspring". Where can I find more information about this--online/books/places. This sparked my interest and would like to learn more. I also had a question about dolphin hybrids in the wild. Are they quite common or more than likely not something that is common? Any information about dolphin hybrids would be very helpful.

[Izzy]

I'd not heard about that hybrid, but there is a bottlenose dolphin/false killer whale hybrid called a "wholphin" that's pretty cool.

[fallencupid]

Yes! I looked it up and thought it was rather interesting.

[Izzy]

It merits a whole section in one of my marine bio books...

[Reefcrazy]

In 1933, three strange dolphins were beached off the Irish coast; these appeared to be hybrids between Risso's Dolphin and the Bottlenose Dolphin. This mating has since been repeated in captivity and a hybrid calf was born. In captivity, a Bottlenose Dolphin and a Rough-toothed Dolphin produced hybrid offspring. In the wild, Spinner Dolphins have sometimes hybridised with Spotted Dolphins and Bottlenose Dolphins. In the wild, bands of males of one dolphin species have been observed to mate with lone female Spinners. Blue Whales, Fin Whales and Humpback Whales all hybridize in the wild. Dall's Porpoises and Harbour Porpoises have hybridized in the wild. There has also been a reported hybrid between a beluga and a narwhal.

[Reefcrazy]

I heard about this one a few years ago and thought you would like it also.


Wolphin
A wolphin or wholphin is a rare hybrid, formed from a cross between a bottlenose dolphin Tursiops truncatus (mother), and a false killer whale Pseudorca crassidens (father). Although they have been reported to exist in the wild, there are currently only two in captivity, both at the Sea Life Park in Hawaii.

The first captive wolphin (whale/dolphin) hybrid occurred in captivity in 1985 where a female bottlenose dolphin and a male false killer whale shared a pool. The wolphin's size, colour and shape are intermediate between the parent species. Named Kekaimalu, she has 66 teeth - intermediate between a bottlenose (88 teeth) and false killer whale (44 teeth). The wolphin proved fertile on December 23, 2004, when she gave birth to a calf sired by a bottlenose dolphin; the calf is three quarters dolphin/one quarter whale and thus looks more like a dolphin. Despite being fertile, Kekaimalu did not mother the calf (this is not uncommon in captive dolphins and was probably not related to her being a hybrid), but it was successfully hand-reared. At 6 months old the calf was already the size of a 1 year old bottlenose.

Both remain in captivity, and are not part of the normal tour at Sea Life Park. The backstage tour must be taken to see the wolphins.

Although the word 'wolphin' is a portmanteau of whale and dolphin, since false killer whales are members of the family Delphinidae, that is, dolphins and not true whales, the wolphin is a kind of dolphin. For more detail on the ambiguity of the term, see whale. Herds of false killer whales and bottlenose dolphins associate together in the wild and there are unsubstantiated tales of natural hybrids between the two species.

[Izzy]

http://planktonforum.org/viewtopic.php?p=8126

I put up a fairly detailed answer to the Wholphin question a while ago... but here it is again. (Click on the link, or read below...)

So... this is relevant, I promise: About the wholphin. I just got my hands on a new marine bio book, and it has a section about the wholhin. It has the answer to my question: why is the current one only 1/4 false killer whale, and 3/4 atlantic bottlenosed dolphin?

So, here's what the book says: (I'm going to type it in. Sorry if I make any stupid typos. I'll try to catch them.)

“Sometimes scientists are surprised by new hybrids, such as the hybrid female wholphin born in 1985 at Sea Life Park in Hawaii. The wholphin’s father is a false killer whale (Pseudorca crassidens) and its mother is an Atlantic bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncates). What surprised the scientists was that the parents were not just different species but different genera. The scientific name given the wholphin is the Pseudorca x Tursiops, showing that the wholphin is a cross between two genera. A similar hybrid born in Tokyo in 1981 lived only a short time.

When a wholphin was born in Hawaii, no one knew whether it would survive. But it proved healthy, grew rapidly, and soon was trained to perform with other dolphins and whales at Sea Life Park. An even more surprising thing happened in 199o, when the wholphin gave birth to a live 47-lb female calf that looked like its mother. Its father was thought to be an Atlantic bottlenose dolphin. But the calf lived only a few days because it did not nurse. Another female calf born the next year was bottle-fed by scientists. She has grown into a healthy animal, over a year old.”

From: “The Living Ocean: Biology and Technology of the Marine Environment, 3rd Edition” by E. Barbara Klemm, S. Arthur Reed, Francis M. Pottenger III, Christine Porter, and Thomas W. Speitel. Published in 1995 by the University of Hawaii. Pages cited: 21-23.

There is then a chart that explains the offspring and its stats. If you want me to put it in a post, let me know. (It’ll take some more doing.)

So that explains how the wholphin mentioned in the article could be ¼ and ¾. That explains a lot. I was really excited to find it, and showed just about everyone! It's completely amazing that the wholphin is viable! That's really cool Smile dolphin + dolphin (both animals are from family Delphindae) = Wholphin! (and the wholphin can have babies!)

A random question: do you think that every wholphin will be female? Every one that I've found information about is female. It might have something to do with the genes. Or the 4 that we know about were just all females, and maybe males are just as common, but we havn't hit one yet. (Like a family with 7 daughters, then a son...)

So I was really excited about that Smile I hope you guys are too Smile dolphin

Have fun... I still think it's fascinating! (Some of the commentary is because of what had been going on in the thread, but still...

[tropical_shark]

Izzy what is the name of the marine biology book that has that chapter in? i did check the original thread to see if someone already asked!

[Izzy]

"The Living Ocean: The Biology and Technology of the Marine Environment" I thought I'd cited it...

From: “The Living Ocean: Biology and Technology of the Marine Environment, 3rd Edition” by E. Barbara Klemm, S. Arthur Reed, Francis M. Pottenger III, Christine Porter, and Thomas W. Speitel. Published in 1995 by the University of Hawaii. Pages cited: 21-23.

[tropical_shark]

Thank you! i must of missed that bit, sorry! i'm a bit tired from late night revision

[Izzy]

lol... it's ok. It's kind of in there with my long rant... Sleep is important... don't ignore it.

[tropical_shark]

Yeah i'm feeling that one! i'm getting 6 1/2 - 7 hours a night but my theory is that i can sleep when its over!