Female spotted hyenas possess a pseudo-penis that is actually an elongated clitoris, completely indistinguishable from the male genitalia to the untrained eye, which they must use for urination, mating, and giving birth.

A closer look

Female spotted hyenas possess a pseudo-penis that is actually an elongated clitoris, completely indistinguishable from the male genitalia to the untrained eye, which they must use for urination, mating, and giving birth. This baffling anatomical structure forces the females to deliver heavily calcified, toothy cubs through a narrow, rigid tube, resulting in an agonizing birthing process that has an incredibly high mortality rate for both the mother and the offspring. While the female hyena enjoys a deeply matriarchal society where she violently dominates the males, she definitely pays a horrific biological price for her status. It is a classic evolutionary compromise where gaining ultimate authority required the most excruciating and architecturally nonsensical reproductive system imaginable