A real live wholphin born in Hawaii....

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In case you wondered, the "wholphin" in my email address is a hybrid of a whale and a dolphin.

They are for real. Check out this link....

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=672783

This is about a new wholphin: a female offspring to a whophin mother and dolphin father, born at Sea Life Park in Oahu, Hawaii.

Jerry Newport

That's pretty cool. I don't think I've ever heard of a wholphin before.

That's science for you!

cool! although, actually, an orca (killer whale) is the biggest dolphin, and so (taxonomically) not really a whale at all. (yes, i know it said false killer whale - they're both part of the Delphinidae). did you know - interesting fact alert - that the male dolphin uses its penis as a tactile tool, much as we use hands to feel and touch, and that it's sprung loaded?

oops... used to have an obsession with cetaceans (not that it's entirely disappeared), can you tell?

but sorry, jerry - can't stand mozart (apologies to mary).

Hah. I saw that article about the wholphin somewhere else, and my first thought was of you, Jerry.

I bet you wrote that on porpoise.

I have seen the original wholphin many times, also her father and mother. The father passed away a few years ago. Kekeimailu will be twenty on May 15th. Her name is Hawaiian from "from the peaceful sea."

All whales and dolphins are cetaceans. The largest whales, eleven of them, are balleen whales. These include the grey, blue, humpback and right whales. Balleen whales swallow lots of water and push it out through straining devices in their mouths which retain the food.

The other sixty six cetaceans are loosely called "toothed whales" of which the largest is the sperm whale. But the pseudo-orca is a member, as somebody mentioned, of the dolphin group. The mating is still pretty cool.

Jerry Newport

Oh wow that was a sad pun .

Hybrids among land mammals are actually fairly common, many are even fertile. Mules, among others, are sometimes fertile

Kekeimailu will be twenty this sunday. She was born at Sea Life Park on Oahu on 5/15/85, a Wednesday.

Jerry Newport

I love how this is in Romantic Relationships . Cue the Marvin Gaye!

I am confused. What is the difference between a false killer whale and a killer whale? I thought 'killer whale' referred to the Orca, which I read in National Geographic isn't really a whale, but a dolphin.

Sorry for the amateur question Jerry, but I am really curious.

Also, my husband and I saw Humpback Whales while were just in Kauai a month ago. They were amazing and beautiful. We saw them between Niihau Island, and the Napali Coast.

Tallgirl.

No, there really is a false killer whale. It's not an orca.

http://www.cetacea.org/fkiller.htm

FYI: from my son the orca lover:

Why are orcas, who are actually dolphins, called killer whales?

It is believed that the original name was whale killer, and at some point, the words were switched.