Gregory's ServerThere's a lot of diversity in how elephant hymens look. Also, some elephant vaginas have a blind alley or two next to the vaginal opening.
Image credit: Balke et all (1988). Journal of Reproductive Fertility, 84, 485-492
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Note how the vestibule begins between the elephant's rear legs, goes up, then makes a sharp curve into the vagina, which is much smaller than the vestibule. The anatomy of the elephant means that it's incredibly difficult to artificially inseminate them, so even if we were able to clone a mastodon it would be very hard to get it into an elephant uterus to act as surrogate. The complex internal anatomy also makes it very difficult for female elephants to be sexually assaulted. This is aided by one more feature: elephant clits. The elephant clitoris is up to 50 centimetres long. The crura (which are also internal in humans) are about half the length of the vestibule. The glans (external in humans) and body (internal in humans) both protrude out of the vestibule, looking like a penis. Elephant clitorises are retractable, too. Sometimes the elephant might put it away. It's likely that these principles would apply to mastodons as well as elephants: a very long vestibule, an internal hymen and vaginal opening, a huge retractable clitoris. Where they might differ would be in size: mastodons were a bit shorter and stockier than elephants. If anyone ever successfully finds a preserved mastodon vagina, please don't hesitate to reach out, we'd LOVE to see it. @vagina_museum I bet if you call over to the #Natural #History #Museum #London you may get a lead on whether one exists. Occasionally they unearth well preserved #specimens. @vagina_museum |
If you're still struggling to visualise how this rather unusual anatomy fits inside the elephant, here's a diagram superimposed on an African elephant.
Image credit: Brown et al (2004). Zoo Biology, 23, 45-63