'I don’t think that the snake had a very good time,' said study author Dr Steffen Reichle at the Noel Kempff Mercado Museum of Natural History in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia.īolivian river dolphins usually swim below the surface, but these two kept their heads above water for an unusually long time. It's semi-aquatic, but according to researchers this particular specimen likely perished because its head was being held underwater for too long as the dolphins swam with it. The huge snake was a Beni anaconda (Eunectes beniensis), an apex predator that reaches around 14 feet in length. It has long been believed that male dolphins have sex for pleasure, because some have been seen masturbating and even penetrating each other's blow holes. Reiss, who was not involved with the study, said the anaconda 'could have been something to rub on'. You can see that there are no mammary slits and there is a separation between the genital slit and anal slit.'It could have been sexually stimulating for them,' said Diana Reiss, a marine mammal scientist at Hunter College in New York told the New York Times. This is a young MALE Pacific bottlenose dolphin ( Tursiops truncatus). This is a FEMALE!Īs you approach this animal on the beach you should immediately notice separate genital and anal slits telling you that this harbor porpoise is a MALE! Also notice that in this adult porpoise, the genital slit is quite far forward (cranial) compared to the younger animal that is shown above.
This is a MALE harbor porpoise and you can see that there is a SEPARATION between the genital slit and anus.Ĭan you tell the gender of this harbor porpoise? Although this animal is fairly decomposed you can see that there are mammary slits on each side of the genital slit. What would this look like if it were a male?Ĭan you ID the three circled structures in this harbor porpoise? Is this a male or female? The anus and vagina are contained within ONE EXTERNAL GENITAL SLIT. This is a FEMALE harbor porpoise! You can see the mammary slits on each side of the GENITAL SLIT. In this schematic of a generalized delphinid, you can see that the presence of MAMMARY SLITS flanking the genital slit and the SINGLE EXTERNAL GENITAL slit in females, which contains both the vaginal and anal openings, distinguishes females from males.Ĭan you identify the structures indicated by the arrows and black circle in this harbor porpoise? Is this a male or female? CLICK on an image to see an enlarged view. If your finger slides more toward the tail of the animal then it is male and you should be able to feel the penis.īelow you will find helpful hints on gender identification in cetaceans. If you find that your finger is able to penetrate with a forward (cranial) position this is a female. If you are unsure after examining the animal visually, you can take a gloved finger and palpate the genital slit. Often times when an animal is decomposed, the mammary slits can be hard to distinguish. There can be considerable variation where the genital slit is located ventrally in male cetaceans so be sure to double check! While there can be considerable variation between species, the main external differences between male and female cetaceans are that females have MAMMARY SLITS which flank each side of the genital slit AND females have a long external genital slit in which both the vagina and anus are located while males have separate genital and anal slits (see figure below).
0 kommentar(er)
