Anatomy tidbits (and naughty bits)
Apr. 10th, 2008 05:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
urbpanOne of the best things about the new (8 months new) job is that I get to take (zoo)keeper training classes. This past week was an anatomy class, which, since it was only a single two hour session, was necessarily brief. Nonetheless, I learned some interesting stuff, and absorbed some cool facts, many of which are about sex:
Most male birds don't have penises. Only the 'primitive' orders do: the ratites (ostriches and emus and such), the cranes, the waterfowl, and the chickens (pheasants, turkeys, peacocks etc.) What was not discussed was why the penis was lost in more 'advanced' bird orders. I suspect it's all about minimizing weight for flight.
Most male reptiles are fitted with a pair of hemipenes, a forked appendage that mostly stays tucked in their cloaca (the single opening to the genital, urinary, and reproductive tracts). The hemipenes are not a penis in the sense we understand it: there is no internal channel; semen flows along grooves on the outside of the hemipenes. The hemipenes are simply a way for the male reptile to convey semen into the female's cloaca, rather than inject it.
Many male amphibians can be distinguished from females during the breeding season by the presence of nuptial pads, dark and rough patches of skin on the limbs which grasp the female during amplexus. Amplexus, for those who don't know, is what passes for mating in amphibians that lay eggs in the water (which is most of them). The male holds onto the female waiting for her to release her eggs in the water; when she does, he releases his semen. The nuptial pads provide much-needed traction, as anyone who has tried to hold onto a bullfrog can attest. The males only have these non-skid surfaces during breeding season. Sometimes people ask me the difference between a newt and a salamander. Newts are aquatic as adults, and the males develop nuptial pads for breeding. Males of other salamanders (it was explained to me) deposit a spermatophore, a packet of semen, and the female passes over it and draws it into her cloaca.
. . . .
Happy springtime to you!
Most male birds don't have penises. Only the 'primitive' orders do: the ratites (ostriches and emus and such), the cranes, the waterfowl, and the chickens (pheasants, turkeys, peacocks etc.) What was not discussed was why the penis was lost in more 'advanced' bird orders. I suspect it's all about minimizing weight for flight.
Most male reptiles are fitted with a pair of hemipenes, a forked appendage that mostly stays tucked in their cloaca (the single opening to the genital, urinary, and reproductive tracts). The hemipenes are not a penis in the sense we understand it: there is no internal channel; semen flows along grooves on the outside of the hemipenes. The hemipenes are simply a way for the male reptile to convey semen into the female's cloaca, rather than inject it.
Many male amphibians can be distinguished from females during the breeding season by the presence of nuptial pads, dark and rough patches of skin on the limbs which grasp the female during amplexus. Amplexus, for those who don't know, is what passes for mating in amphibians that lay eggs in the water (which is most of them). The male holds onto the female waiting for her to release her eggs in the water; when she does, he releases his semen. The nuptial pads provide much-needed traction, as anyone who has tried to hold onto a bullfrog can attest. The males only have these non-skid surfaces during breeding season. Sometimes people ask me the difference between a newt and a salamander. Newts are aquatic as adults, and the males develop nuptial pads for breeding. Males of other salamanders (it was explained to me) deposit a spermatophore, a packet of semen, and the female passes over it and draws it into her cloaca.
. . . .
Happy springtime to you!
