# Animal clitorises? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 17, 2007, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-clitorises/415944 "2007-08-17T14:37:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cmdowns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@cmdowns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmdowns)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-clitorises/415944/1 "2007-08-17T14:37:06Z")
Do female animals other than humans have clitorises, and do they more or less function the same as they do in humans? ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-clitorises/415944/2 "2007-08-17T14:42:40Z")
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clitoris](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clitoris) ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-clitorises/415944/3 "2007-08-17T15:13:21Z")
[QUOTE=pool] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clitoris](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clitoris) [/QUOTE] To save other Dopers a bit of reading, the OP’s question is not addressed one way or the other in this link. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-clitorises/415944/4 "2007-08-17T15:20:35Z")
I know this isn’t a GQ-worthy answer, but I don’t see why so many female animals (dogs, monkeys) would masturbate so much if they didn’t have some pleasure receptors down there (whereas sex between, say, female Bonobos, can have other uses like bonding and avoiding violence). Ahh, seems the [female mammals do](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_sexuality) (especially those lucky hyenas). And how long did it take science to ‘discover’ it in women? And then realize it actually extends up into the body (aka the ‘G spot,’ though it’s more like ‘spots’)? Sigh… ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-clitorises/415944/5 "2007-08-17T15:20:45Z")
> [@](#): > > In female mammals, the clitoris is the sexual homolog of the penis, and has the > same embryonic origin; it also has a corpus cavernosum and corpus spongiosum. [http://www.lifesci.utexas.edu/courses/bio478L/LecturesPDF/reproduction.pdf](http://www.lifesci.utexas.edu/courses/bio478L/LecturesPDF/reproduction.pdf) > [@](#): > > We also examined the implications of the pattern of clitoral innervation for the unique challenges faced by female spotted hyenas, the only extant species of mammal that mates and gives birth through the clitoris. [http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=17528969](http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=17528969) > [@](#): > > What’s bizarre is that in some mammal species, the clitoris grows very big, being even named pseudopenis. The pseudopenis has been found till now in the European mole, some lemurs (a kind of primitive monkey from Madagascar), squirrel monkeys (from tropical America), binturong (a type of arboreal civetcat from Southeast Asia) (photo below) and of course, the most famous case, the African spotted hyena. [http://news.softpedia.com/news/The-Largest-Clitoris-in-the-World-45527.shtml](http://news.softpedia.com/news/The-Largest-Clitoris-in-the-World-45527.shtml) > [@](#): > > (1) moles, which display a penile clitoris, but retain a distal vagina > separate from the urethra, and (2) the spotted hyena, which is the only extant mammalian > species with both a penile clitoris and a pseudoscrotum, but no distal vagina. [http://www.vet.cornell.edu/labs/place/publications/16Place&Glickman.2004.pdf](http://www.vet.cornell.edu/labs/place/publications/16Place&Glickman.2004.pdf) > [@](#): > > The development of the phallus from the indifferent stage to sexual dimorphism has not been described in any marsupial. This study describes the morphological and histological changes occurring in the development of the phallus of the tammar wallaby. The development of the penis and clitoris in the tammar closely follow the most widely accepted model for the development of the same organs in eutherian mammals. [http://www.springerlink.com/content/p6fd827xpybcwmjg/](http://www.springerlink.com/content/p6fd827xpybcwmjg/) > [@](#): > > The clitoris of the female whale is about 8 cm. long. Its apex is said to be “triloped” and is directed backwards. The whale clitoris, in common with the other sex organs of the largest cetaceans, are the biggest of any animal. Many other species have organs large for their body size, and in a number of species there is a long clitoris. We have already noted the large clitoris in the hyaena and the spider monkey. It is also surprisingly long in the mole (in the non-breeding season it is as long as the penis). In cats and civets the clitoris is a complicated structure reinforced with bone, and the organ is particularly prominent. Considering the absence of any functional role for the clitoris in most species it is a surprisingly impressive device in many species. > **[The Longest Clitoris - World Sex Records](https://www.world-sex-records.com/sex-314.htm)** > > The definitive guide to the biggest, longest, smallest, shortest, youngest, oldest, earliest, first, most bizarre, least popular, aspects of sex. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-clitorises/415944/6 "2007-08-17T15:32:25Z")
[QUOTE=bienville] To save other Dopers a bit of reading, the OP’s question is not addressed one way or the other in this link. [/QUOTE] It’s in the first sentence: > [@Wikipedia](#): > > The clitoris (Greek κλειτορίς) is a sexual organ that is present in biologically female mammals. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-clitorises/415944/7 "2007-08-17T15:32:36Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by **bienville** > To save other Dopers a bit of reading, the OP’s question is not addressed one way or the other in this link. Actually yes it does address what the OP asked. > [@](#): > > Do female animals other than humans have clitorises From the link: The clitoris (Greek κλειτορίς) is a sexual organ that is present in biologically **female mammals.** So that answers the question if female animals have a clitoris. > [@](#): > > do they more or less function the same as they do in humans? Unlike the penis, which is homologous to the clitoris, the clitoris does not contain the distal portion of the urethra and functions solely to induce sexual pleasure. The only known exception to this is in the Spotted Hyena, where the urogenital system is modified so that the female urinates, mates and gives birth via an enlarged, erectile clitoris, known as a pseudo-penis.[1] ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-clitorises/415944/8 "2007-08-17T15:38:48Z")
[QUOTE=pool] Unlike the penis, which is homologous to the clitoris, the clitoris does not contain the distal portion of the urethra and functions solely to induce sexual pleasure. The only known exception to this is in the Spotted Hyena, where the urogenital system is modified so that the female urinates, mates and gives birth via an enlarged, erectile clitoris, known as a pseudo-penis.[1] [/QUOTE] Their actual birth canal is through their “pseudo-penis”? And who was saying that hyenas are lucky, exactly? ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-clitorises/415944/9 "2007-08-17T15:48:48Z")
Poor, poor hyenas. I remember reading in Elaine Morgan’s book The Descent of Woman, that female animals tend to get off (i.e., orgasm) from just vaginal sex because their vaginas aren’t as far forward as ours–whereas we tend to have troubles, (often) need to be given clitoral stimulation, along with a hope and a prayer and if all the planets align before it happens. Is there any truth to that? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animal-clitorises/415944/10 "2007-08-17T15:56:57Z")
[QUOTE=Gfactor] …pseudoscrotum… [/QUOTE] _DING DING DING!_ Congratulations! You said today’s secret word!