Hyena's Labour Ordeal

[wildafri]

Our recent trip to a South African National Park resulted in some really interesting footage. We stumbled upon hyena cubs of about 2 weeks old.Telling the sex of hyena cubs however, is almost impossible. Hyena females have an inflated ****oris and it even has erectile tissue and a gland, just like the penis of a male hyena. Hyenas are also part of a very small group of animals that give birth through their ****oris, which is very narrow and makes this task even more difficult. This results in 10% of hyena females dying during child birth. It doesn’t really help that hyena cubs are the largest among carnivorous predators in relation to their mothers’ weight.
To make things even more bizarre, females also have a fake scrotum as a result of an enlarged vulva, resulting in the appearance of testicles with fatty tissue.It is mainly because of this that the myth of a hyena being hermaphrodite got perpetuated. Females also have higher levels of testosterone than males, which accounts for them being slightly larger and more aggressive than males.

 

[Derrel]

Wow...this is almost bordering on TMI (too much information !).

Wow...and I thought birds with their all-purpose cloacas had it bad...

 

[Frequency]

Well informing; fine shot

Regards

 

[wildafri]

Wow...this is almost bordering on TMI (too much information !).

Wow...and I thought birds with their all-purpose cloacas had it bad...

True dat...