Whales and Dolphins... Who Knew?
I was amazed today to read about a whale-dolphin mix giving birth to a female calf in captivity. (They call them wholphins!) I had no idea that dolphins and false killer whales could mate. Talk about getting some strange!
Blog Tag: News
Posted 4/16/2005 04:05:00 PM
L
On 4/17/2005 12:13 AM, 
said...
On 4/17/2005 10:22 AM, 
dkgoodman said...
2 Comments:
I was amazed by the story about the wholphin, too. Does that mean whales and dolphins are in the same species since they can mate and produce fertile offspring? I also wonder if whales and dolphins actually find each other attractive or if it's just that there is no other choice. Are the whale and dolphin trapped alone together in the same tank, so that they can't "date" others? (Kind of like being married.) Or, did they choose each other over all of the other whales and dolphins? (Also, kind of like being married.)
In another article I read on the subject, it said that the park tried to prevent inbreeding by separating animals who are "in heat". I get the impression that while the dolphins are with other dolphins, they aren't with other "interested" dolphins.
I used to read about dolphins a lot in high school, and as I recall from the John C. Lilly books, dolphins are a pretty randy species, and will even flirt with humans.
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