Actually in the case of the hyena, what seems like a penis is in reality a long clitoris.
I remember in elementary school, we were taught that in seahorses, the male gives birth to the young...How biologists figured that has always been beyond me.
Actually in the case of the hyena, what seems like a penis is in reality a long clitoris. I remembe
Yup, and I've been considerably amused and interested in the spotted hyena ever since I found out about it. I use it as an example of how the sexual binary still applies even if it might not look like it to a human, and how some animals can vary a lot from humans.
And with seahorses what happened is that for a long time people thought they were one way, then after some dissections and captive observations they realized the one that produces sperm is the one that gives birth while the one with the eggs injects these into the other; as their scientific categories had defined "male" as "sperm producer" and "female" as "egg producer" rather than the more layman categoration based on which gave birth, they simply spread that, as defined in scientific terms, the male seahorse is the one that gives birth.
Unusual animal sexual anatomy and behavior is a bit of an obsession of mine, actually.
Yup, and I've been considerably amused and interested in the spotted hyena ever since I found out ab
