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Message text written by "mnd~"
"
Dear Sir
I love killer whales. I've had the privilege of observing them in the wild
as well as at Sea World. My question is of the captive born killer whales
is
there now a recognized "group" "order" etc for them. I've heard them
called
hy-breds and is there anyone studying these killer whales.
Thank you,
Cori Hardin
"
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Dear Cori
No, there is no separate group, order or species for the captive born orcas
whose parents may come from separate North Atlantic and North Pacific
parents. They are the same species.
A hybrid more commonly refers to the progeny of two different species of
whales. For example, there are some cases of crosses between a bottlenose
dolphin and a false killer whale in captivity and a total of 25 hybrid
cases identified over the years within the toothed whales alone. Mating
between species also occurs in the wild and there is a noted case of an
individual that was determined to have had mixed blue whale and fin whale
parentage.
Erich Hoyt
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