Sunday, October 11, 2009

Hyena

"One unusual feature of the Spotted Hyena is that females have an enlarged clitoris, called a pseudo-penis, demi-penis, or sometimes mistakenly referred to as a nanophallus. Female hyenas give birth, copulate, and urinate through their protruding genitalia, which stretches to allow the male penis to enter for copulating; it also stretches during birth. The anatomical position of the genitalia gives females complete control over which males are allowed to mate with them."

"All species excrete an oily, yellow substance from their anal glands onto objects to mark their territories. When scent marking the anal pouch is turned inside out, or everted. Hyenas also do this as a submissive posture to more dominant hyenas. Genitals, the anal area and the anal glands are sniffed during greeting behavior in which each hyena lifts its leg and allows the other to sniff its anal sacks and genitals. All four species maintain latrines far from the main denning area where dung is deposited. Scent marking is also done by scraping the ground with the paws, which deposits scent from glands on the bottoms of the feet. Hyenas do not raise their legs when urinating as male or dominant canids do."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyena#In_culture

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