Animals Are Awesome

In addition to having a pseudo-penis, the labia of a female hyena are fused and the vaginal canal is only accessable through the clitoris. Mating is thus a difficult activity that requires plenty of practice. It also follows that birth is incredibly difficult and dangerous. Keep in mind that, relative to the mass of the mother, hyena newborns are the largest carnivorans cubs. During labor, the fetus fills and stretches the clitoris until it is pushed out of the tiny opening, ripping the clitoral meatus.

60% of first-time births within captive colonies result in stillborns due to the length of labor involved in the stretching process, and the number is likely even higher in the wild.

Hyenas have scant few secondary sexual characteristics. In fact, this is a photo of a female hyena. A hyena clitoris is equal in size to a hyena penis, due to the species’ characteristically high androgen levels. Though it has been shown that the penile clitoris begins developing prior to the androgen wave in utero, so the condition of female hyenas’ genitals is likely due to multiple evolutionary factors.

Commonly stereotyped as the lowly cretins of the African plains, spotted (“laughing”) hyenas are surprisingly intelligent.

From wikipedia: “Like primates, spotted hyenas use multiple sensory modalities, recognise individual conspecifics, are conscious that some clan-mates may be more reliable than others, recognise 3rd party kin and rank relationships among clan-mates, and adaptively use this knowledge during social decision making. Also, like cercopithecine primates, dominance ranks in hyena societies are not correlated with size or aggression, but with ally networks.”