Hourglass Dolphin Traditional Cache
PinkDolphin: Well I guess it is time to say goodbye to this one given there is a new home just a stones throw away, urban sprawl has encroached on this cache. Lasted almost 10 years which is a good run. Thank you to all who found this cache.
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Size: 
(micro)
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Container is larger then a micro, but smaller then a small so I am going to call it a Smirco. (Edit 9-5-10), cache is now a micro, original container went missing, please replace exactly as found)
The Hourglass Dolphin (Lagenorynchus cruciger) is a small dolphin found in Antarctic and sub-Antarctic waters.
The dolphin was for a long time rarely seen. It was first identified as a new species by Qouy and Galmard in 1824 from a drawing made in the South Pacific in 1820. It is only the cetacean to have been widely accepted as a species on eye accounts alone 1. Indeed by 1960, despite decades of whaling in the Southern Ocean, only three specimens had been brought to the attention of scientists. Even now only 6 complete and 14 partial specimens have been examined. Further information has been obtained from 4 strandings and boats which have deliberately set out to observe the dolphins in areas rarely otherwise visited by ships.
Though it is traditionally placed in the genus Lagenorhynchus, recent molecular analyses indicate that the Hourglass Dolphin is actually more closely related to the dolphins of the genus Cephalorhynchus and ought to be placed in that genus.
The Hourglass Dolphin is coloured black and white and for this reason was colloquially known by whalers as the "sea cow". On each flank there is a white patch at the front of the dolphin, above the beak, eye and flipper, and a second patch at the rear. These two patches are connected by a thin strip of white, creating, loosely speaking, an hourglass shape and hence the common name of the dolphin. The scientific name cruciger is Latin for "cross-carrier". This refers to the area of black colouration on the body, which, viewed from above, vaguely resembles a Maltese cross or cross pattée.
In its usual range the dolphin is easily identifiable. Only the Southern Right Whale Dolphin is of comparable size and found so far south. The Right Whale Dolphin does not have a dorsal fin and so the two species are trivially distinguished from one another. The fin varies from one individual to another quite considerably. Broadly speaking it is tall and curved, and the curve may be particularly pronounced in older animals.
A fully grown adult is about 1.8 m in length and weighs 90-120 kg. Males are probably slightly smaller and lighter than females (from a sample size of eight specimens).
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