A Painful Path to Birth
Survival is a battle from the start
Did you know that the hyena has one of the most painful/excruciating births of an animal?
Female hyenas have a peculiar reproductive structure what looks like a penis is really an elongated clitoris that serves as a pseudo-penis.
The folds of skin where their labia would be have fused, producing what appears to be a scrotum.
When cubs are born, they must travel through their mother's narrow and elongated pseudo-penis, which usually ruptures during this process. The birth canal is so narrow that many first-time mothers die in labor, and multiple cubs suffocate before they're even born.
This unusual anatomy also complicates mating. Successful copulation requires the male to maneuver the female's pseudo-penis correctly. This, paired with the hyena's social structure, which is matriarchal, turns their reproductive cycle into one of the most intriguing and yet difficult among all animals.
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Comments (1)
This is crazy I never knew this. Great work