Yes, snakes have clitorises.

[ArabellaScott]

'Scientists have discovered that snakes do have clitorises, shattering a long-held assumption that the females didn't have a sexual organ.

Research published [on] Wednesday provides the first proper anatomical descriptions of female snake genitalia.

Snake penises - hemipenes - have been studied for decades. They are forked and some are embedded with spikes.

But the female sex organ had been "overlooked in comparison", researchers said.

It wasn't necessarily that it was elusive - rather, scientists weren't really looking for it.'

Well, that is surprising to hear, isn't it?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-63967778

Snake penises - hemipenes - have been studied for decades. They are forked and some are embedded with spikes.

I can't see that going down well with a clitoris.

Depends on the angle, probably.

royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2022.1702

'Female genitalia are conspicuously overlooked in comparison to their male counterparts, limiting our understanding of sexual reproduction across vertebrate lineages'

There was a combination of female genitalia being taboo, scientists not being able to find it, and people accepting the mislabelling of intersex snakes," said Megan Folwell, a doctoral candidate and lead researcher.

Hmmm...I wonder whether there other species where its members are mislabelled as intersex?

🤣😂 sorry this has really got me giggling especially "scientists not being able to find it"

I suppose to your average lady snake it's not really relevant if scientists found it or not

Were boy snakes finding it? That's what I'm curious about.

I was reading bits if this aloud earlier. It was very (unintentionally) funny!

Same here! I actually burst out laughing and DH looked at me like

That article was rather funnier than I think they intended it to be.

I loved the fact that the article under the snakes have clitorises labelled 'more on this story' was an article about a snake in a supermarket. I'm sure it's coincidence?! that the computer code or whatever thought ahhh female snake, snake in supermarket.

Never really given it much thought before, but now wondering, how do snakes erŕmmm......make love?
🤣🤣🤣

I don't understand - we have known that lizards have had hemiclitores for ages.

No one checked out snakes?

This was my reaction too. I wonder how many scientists it took to find it 🤣

I feel alot of solidarity with female snakes now 🤣.

How do they know that the snakes with clitorises are female and the penis-snakes are male?

Here's one for the vipers:

And garter snakes have interesting technique:

Teeheehee! Snigger.

Hoping snake pR0n is allowed on MN. I didn't see anything in the guidelines.

There is hope for us vipers then.

Bit disappointed that the female blackadder succumbed to black male.

From their accessories, duh.

She fancy

Thank you.

Best laugh I've had all week.

Were boy snakes finding it? That's what I'm curious about.

Research seemed to suggest yes. 😊

'Unlike ‘pockets’ previously described from inverted intersex hemipenes in snakes [40], these pockets are not the result of inverted genital structures, but rather a pouch of soft tissue detached from the hemiclitores. The presence/absence of these pockets may aid in external access for the males to the anterior section of the hemiclitores in some species, but the function of this structure should be investigated further.'
...
'The innervation and erectile tissue of the hemiclitores, and their position close to the posterior lip of the cloaca where the skin is thinner, could allow stimulation during mating through copulatory behaviours, such as tail wrapping and dorsal body looping [8,12,17–20]. These male mating behaviours could provide female sensory stimulation that may elicit female receptivity.'

But do snakes has penis beakers ??

Well, this has to be a contender for thread title of the year 😆

I was happy to find out once and for all the plural of clitoris, takeawaydinner.