# Do animals have clitorises? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 21, 2001, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-have-clitorises/55387 "2001-02-21T23:51:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tarnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tarnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tarnik)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2001, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-have-clitorises/55387/1 "2001-02-21T23:51:59Z")
I’m not some kind of sicko zoophilliac, but I wonder…do they? ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2001, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-have-clitorises/55387/2 "2001-02-22T00:04:41Z")
Chimps do. There was a magazine article I read some time ago about a couple who were trying to teach sign language to a female chimpanzee and were raising it in their home. The female chimp liked to get on the couch, look at bodybuilder magazines and ummm… “stimulate” herself with the suction hose end of a running vacuuum cleaner. ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2001, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-have-clitorises/55387/3 "2001-02-22T02:21:23Z")
I dunno… just a minute: _Here kitty kitty kitty!_ 😃 ---
**Author:** ![oldscratch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ed655f/32.png) [@oldscratch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oldscratch)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2001, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-have-clitorises/55387/4 "2001-02-22T02:34:53Z")
I know hyenas do. In fact the femal hyena has such a large clitoris that for awhile they were thought to be unisex or hermaphroditic. ---
**Author:** ![idiotboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@idiotboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/idiotboy)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2001, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-have-clitorises/55387/5 "2001-02-22T02:34:58Z")
I dunno about that… [hijack in progress] …but male Dragonflies penises actually scrape any sperm out of the female’s “recepticle” before depositing it’s own. I saw it on Discovery Channel tonight and had to share, sorry… [/hijack go bye-bye] ---
**Author:** ![Gaspode](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/aeb1de/32.png) [@Gaspode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaspode)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2001, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-have-clitorises/55387/6 "2001-02-22T03:16:13Z")
R.D. Fransdon. Anatomy and Physiology of Farm Animals. 1986. “In domestic animals the labia are simple rather than consisting of major and minor labia as in the human. The ventral commissure of the vulva conceals the clitoris, which has the same embryonic origin as the penis in the male.” The answer is yes for domestic animals and for the vast majority if not all placental mammals. I have no idea if marsupials and monotremes have clitorises since their reproductive system varies pretty radically from placentals. ---
**Author:** ![Surgoshan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Surgoshan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surgoshan)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2001, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-have-clitorises/55387/7 "2001-02-22T04:06:00Z")
I believe that for hyenas, it’s the dominant female that grows a fake penis out of her clitoris. Complete with fake testes! ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2001, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-have-clitorises/55387/8 "2001-02-22T22:02:17Z")
Female Spider Monkeys also have hypertrophied clitorises. They are more than an inch long and pink, and very much resemble a penis. The penis of the male, in contrast, is much less obvious in its flaccid state. This can cause some consternation in tourists when they see an animal that seems to be grossly male nursing an infant. Dunno about female marsupials, but I imangine they probably also have clitorises. The truly odd thing about female marsupials is that they have three vaginas. (Two to accomodate the bifurcate penis of the male, one that develops separately as a birth canal.) ---
**Author:** ![gorkamorka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/87869e/32.png) [@gorkamorka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gorkamorka)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2001, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-have-clitorises/55387/9 "2001-02-23T01:55:17Z")
[QUOTE\*Originally posted by Colibri \* clitorises Actually, it`s clitori. Don’t ask me how I know this. ---
**Author:** ![tarnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tarnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tarnik)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2001, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-have-clitorises/55387/10 "2001-02-23T02:52:15Z")
That’s ok, I wondered myself. ---
**Author:** ![tarnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tarnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tarnik)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2001, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-have-clitorises/55387/11 "2001-02-23T03:05:52Z")
I guess, going a step further, do all female mammals experience orgam similar to a human female? CAn you provide cites? ---
**Author:** ![mok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/edb3f5/32.png) [@mok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mok)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2001, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-have-clitorises/55387/12 "2001-02-23T04:16:06Z")
gorkamorka sed: > [@](#): > > Actually, it`s clitori. Don’t ask me how I know this. No, actually, it’s _clitorides_. If it was a “clitor **u** s”, the plural could be _clitori_, but it is “clitor **i** s”. -m ---
**Author:** ![Gaspode](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/aeb1de/32.png) [@Gaspode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaspode)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2001, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-have-clitorises/55387/13 "2001-02-23T09:27:52Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originallly posted by **tarnik** _ > I guess, going a step further, do all female mammals experience orgam similar to a human female? CAn you provide cites? Frome this site: [http://songweaver.com/info/bonobos.html](http://songweaver.com/info/bonobos.html). “Laboratory experiments on stump- tailed macaques have demonstrated that women are not the only female primates capable of physiological orgasm.” Beyond that I don’t know. Though I’m also starting to worry about you **tarnik**. Hell, I’m starting to worry about me for having the answers to hand. ---
**Author:** ![Phobos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Phobos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phobos)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2001, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-have-clitorises/55387/14 "2001-02-23T12:52:21Z")
human = animal ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2001, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-have-clitorises/55387/15 "2001-02-23T16:16:06Z")
Websters gives the plural form as: “plural: clitorises also clitorides” So looks like you can use either one. Yes, some animals have clitorises & some have orgasms (apes) & no I won’t get a cite since you can easy search the net for that info. ---
**Author:** ![Palandine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/958977/32.png) [@Palandine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palandine)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2001, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-have-clitorises/55387/16 "2001-02-23T16:42:05Z")
Female goats and sheep do, too. I’m editing a book on sheep and goat medicine right now and have seen the pictures :eek: ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2001, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-have-clitorises/55387/17 "2001-02-23T18:07:56Z")
sheep do? hmmmmmm ---
**Author:** ![tarnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tarnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tarnik)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2001, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-have-clitorises/55387/18 "2001-02-23T21:03:25Z")
You said I was sick?