'Wholphin' born in captivity

The world's only known whale-dolphin mix has given birth to a playful female calf, officials at Sea Life Park Hawaii said.

The calf was born on December 23 to Kekaimalu, a mix of a false killer whale and an Atlantic bottlenose dolphin. Park officials said they waited to announce the birth on Thursday because of recent changes in ownership and operations at the park.

The young as-yet unnamed wholphin is one-fourth false killer whale and three-fourths Atlantic bottlenose dolphin. Her slick skin is an even blend of a dolphin's light grey and the black colouring of a false killer whale.

The calf still depends fully on her mother's milk, but sometimes snatches frozen capelin from the hands of trainers, then toys with the sardine-like fish.

She is jumbo-sized compared to purebred dolphins, and is already the size of a one-year-old bottlenose.

"Mother and calf are doing very well," said Dr Renato Lenzi, general manager of Sea Life Park by Dolphin Discovery. "We are monitoring them very closely to ensure the best care for them."

Surprise coupling
The wholphin birth is significant to the study of marine mammals because it shows compatibility between the two species is much greater than previously thought.

No one has observed a wholphin in the wild, Lenzi said.

Kekaimalu, whose name means "from the peaceful ocean", was born 19 years ago after a surprise coupling between a 4-metre, 900kg false killer whale and a 1.8-metre, 180kg dolphin. The animals were the leads in the park's popular tourist water show, featured in the Adam Sandler movie 50 First Dates.

Kekaimalu has given birth to two other calves. One lived for nine years and the other, born when Kekaimalu was very young, died a few days after birth.

Park researchers suspect the wholphin's father is a 4.5-metre-long Atlantic bottlenose dolphin named Mikioi.

"He seems to be totally oblivious to this happening," Lenzi said.

False killer whales do not closely resemble killer whales. They grow to six metres, weigh up to two tons and have a tapering, rounded snout that overhangs their toothed jaw.

Atlantic bottlenose dolphins reach a maximum size of 3 1/2 metres and can weigh up to 300kg.

Sea Life Park officials said they hope to decide on a name for the baby wholphin soon and move her to a large display tank in a few months.

On the net: www.sealifeparkhawaii.com