A wholphin is a rare hybrid animal born from mating a female bottlenose dolphin with a male false killer whale. Wholphins are diploid. Interestingly, wholphins are fertile. What can you conclude from the fact that wholphins are fertile?
A) Wholphins are allotetraploid.
B) Dolphins and false killer whales likely have the same number of chromosomes.
C) Dolphins and false killer whales are actually the same species.
D) One of the parents must have been aneuploid.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The fact that wholphins are fertile suggests that dolphins and false killer whales likely have the same number of chromosomes, as viable offspring generally require a similar number of chromosomes from each parent for proper pairing and function. If one parent was aneuploid (had an abnormal number of chromosomes), it would be less likely for the offspring to be viable and fertile. It is also unlikely that wholphins are allotetraploid (having four sets of chromosomes from two different species) because this would require a doubling of the chromosome number in one of the parent species, which is rare in mammals. Finally, the fact that wholphins are fertile does not mean that dolphins and false killer whales are the same species, as they may still have different physical characteristics and behaviors that distinguish them as separate species.

A Wholphin Is a Rare Hybrid Animal Born from Mating