{"id":1418,"date":"2025-11-01T20:59:54","date_gmt":"2025-11-01T18:59:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lbscience.org\/en\/2025\/11\/01\/did-you-know-female-spotted-hyenas-urinate-mate-and-even-give-birth-through-a-pseudopenis\/"},"modified":"2025-11-04T04:35:21","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T02:35:21","slug":"did-you-know-female-spotted-hyenas-urinate-mate-and-even-give-birth-through-a-pseudopenis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lbscience.org\/en\/2025\/11\/01\/did-you-know-female-spotted-hyenas-urinate-mate-and-even-give-birth-through-a-pseudopenis\/","title":{"rendered":"Fun Fact: Spotted Hyena Females Have a Functional Pseudo-Penis"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The spotted hyena (<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Crocuta crocuta<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) is a sophisticated predator with a matriarchal social structure\u2014<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">a society dominated by females\u2014<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and an anatomy that challenges everything we thought we knew about the animal kingdom. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The females are larger than males, and even the lowest-ranking female outranks every male in the clan. Their physical strength is not the only trait that sets them apart; they also possess a remarkable organ: a \u201cpseudo-penis\u201d: A<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">n elongated clitoris that visually resembles a penis and is located in a similar position on the hyena's body.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This anatomical structure forms during embryonic development as a result of exposure to male sex hormones (androgens) that originate from the mother, cross the placenta, and are converted to testosterone in the fetus. These hormones give females their powerful, male-like appearance, influence their behavior, and cement their dominant status within the clan.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A female hyena urinates, copulates, and even gives birth through the tip of the penis-like clitoris\u2014a difficult and dangerous process that comes at a heavy price: many cubs die during the mother\u2019s first delivery [1].<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thus, hyenas live on the edge of an evolutionary paradox: They possess a cumbersome and risky reproductive system that has persisted for millions of years because it reinforces their unique social structure\u2014large clans ruled by massive, powerful females\u2014which grants them a significant evolutionary advantage.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Insane Biology of: The Spotted Hyena\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/S-b5Ue7V-DM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Hebrew editing: Smadar Raban<br \/>\nEnglish editing: Elee Shimshoni<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>References:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[1] <a href=\"https:\/\/pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/articles\/PMC1691120\/?utm_source=chatgpt.com\">Article on the formation of the pseudopenis in female hyenas during embryonic development<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) is a sophisticated predator with a matriarchal social structure\u2014a society dominated by females\u2014and an anatomy that challenges everything we thought we knew about the animal kingdom. The females are larger than males, and even the lowest-ranking female outranks every male in the clan. Their physical strength is not the only [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":206,"featured_media":1419,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-biology","category-zoology"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Fun Fact: Spotted Hyena Females Have a Functional Pseudo-Penis - Little, Big Science<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lbscience.org\/en\/2025\/11\/01\/did-you-know-female-spotted-hyenas-urinate-mate-and-even-give-birth-through-a-pseudopenis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fun Fact: Spotted Hyena Females Have a Functional Pseudo-Penis - Little, Big Science\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) is a sophisticated predator with a matriarchal social structure\u2014a society dominated by females\u2014and an anatomy that challenges everything we thought we knew about the animal kingdom. The females are larger than males, and even the lowest-ranking female outranks every male in the clan. 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