Researchers say they have discovered a hybrid between a whale and a dolphin off the coast of Hawaii.
The animal spotted near the island of Kauai one year ago is a cross between a melon-headed whale and a rough-toothed dolphin, according to the Cascadia Research Collective based in Washington state.
“This is the first-known hybrid between these two species,” read the study published this month.
It’s also only the third case of a hybrid born between species in the Delphinidae, or dolphin, family.
According to the study, the head shape appears “intermediate” between the two species, “with a gently-sloping rostrum (rather than the rounded head of melon-headed whales) but which is truncated compared to rough-toothed dolphins.”
The hybrid was photographed with a melon-headed whale, which might be the hybrid’s mother.
“We encountered the hybrid on two occasions about five days apart, and on both occasions it was traveling with the melon-headed whale,” Cascadia research biologist Robin Baird told the Daily News on Tuesday. “The most parsimonious explanation is that the animal with it was probably the mother.”
Baird discounts the possibility that the hybrid is a new species. More widespread hybridization would need to occur, he said.
“That isn’t the case, although there are examples where hybridization has resulted in a new species,” he said. “There’s no evidence to suggest it’s leading toward anything like species formation.”
A possible explanation for its existence could involve a melon-headed whale getting separated from its group and ending up traveling with rough-toothed dolphins.
Regardless, Baird cautions against calling it a “wholphin,” as other hybrids have been called in the past.
“Calling it something like a wholphin doesn’t make any sense,” said Baird. “I think calling it a wholphin just confuses the situation more than it already is.”
Scientists believe the hybrid is close to adult age.
With News Wire Services
