Dolphins are sexually active and often flirt not only for reproductive reasons . Now, a team of evolutionary biologists at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts, USA, has discovered that the clitoral tissue of the common bottlenose dolphin ( Tursiops truncatus ) bears many similarities to the human clitoris. It has abundant sensory nerves and spongy erectile tissues in the genitalia suggesting that the clitoris of dolphins can be very sensitive to physical contact, providing pleasure when stimulated.
A functional, human-like clitoris
For the study, the researchers carried out a detailed analysis of the clitorises of 11 females who had died naturally and found strong evidence supporting the functionality of the organ. This work revealed many similarities between the structure of the dolphin and the clitoris of a human female; Within the dolphin’s tissue there is room for blood to flow, allowing the area to swell and the human clitoris-like structure – located at the vaginal entrance – to harden.
“The clitoris of dolphins has many characteristics that suggest that it works to provide pleasure to females,” says Patricia Brennan, leader of the study published in the journal Current Biology. “Since the entire dolphin pelvis is so different from that of humans , it was surprising to see how similar the shapes were ,” says Brennan.
Dolphins are extremely social and have been known to have sex throughout the year as a way of strengthening their social bonds. Female dolphins have also been observed to have a clitoris in the vagina in a place that would make stimulation during copulation likely and some have been seen rubbing their clitoris with their snouts or fins or even group orgies where males and females they use their snouts to rub their mates’ clitorises and penises.
The clitoris is an organ little studied in many species
“We knew that dolphins have sex not only to reproduce, but also to solidify social bonds, so it seemed likely that the clitoris could be functional.”
CT scans and dissection also revealed many structural features similar to the human clitoris, albeit with different shapes and more spongy tissues. It seems that we still have a lot to learn from nature .
Referencia: “Evidence of a functional clitoris in dolphins” by Patricia L.R. Brennan, Jonathan R. Cowart and Dara N. Orbach, 10 January 2022, Current Biology.
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.11.020
