Wholphin
A wholphin is an extremely rare cetacean hybrid born from a mating of a female common bottlenose dolphin with a male false killer whale. The name implies a hybrid of whale and dolphin, though taxonomically, both are in the oceanic dolphin family, which is in the toothed whale clade. This type of hybrid was considered unexpected given the sometimes extreme size difference between a female common bottlenose dolphin and a male false killer whale. Wholphins have been born in captivity and have also been reported in the wild.
Wholphins also exhibit physical and behavioural characteristics intermediate between those of their parent species. While much larger than most dolphins, the wholphin becomes an exceptional example of hybrid vigour.
Examples
The first recorded wholphin was born in a Tokyo SeaWorld in 1981; he died after 200 days.The first wholphin in the United States and the first to survive was Kekaimalu, born at Sea Life Park in Hawaii on May 15, 1985; her name means "from the peaceful ocean". Kekaimalu proved fertile when she gave birth at a very young age. John Blanchard, a trainer at Sea Life Park, has said about Kekaimalu:
“The wholphin was darker than the other dolphins, and her nose looked like it was chopped off… represented an unusual example of hybridization between two species of dolphin with markedly different sizes and appearances.”
In 1991, Kekaimalu gave birth, to her daughter, Pohaikealoha, with an unknown, male dolphin. For two years, she cared for the calf, but did not nurse it; it was hand-reared by trainers. Pohaikealoha died at age 9. On December 23, 2004, Kekaimalu had her third calf, daughter Kawili Kai, sired by a male bottlenose. The calf was nursed and was very playful. Only months after birth, it was the size of a one-year-old bottlenose dolphin. All three calves were three-quarters bottlenose dolphin and one-quarter false killer whale. Kekaimalu died on July 8, 2024 at the age of 39. Kawili Kai remains in captivity in Sea Life Park.