The dolphin sex life has been a widely discussed topic for quite a while now. However, while the male reproductive organs get a lot of coverage and interest from the public, the female ones are somehow forgotten and deemed uninteresting. In an effort to change that, this article will focus solely on the dolphin vagina in an effort to explain everything there is to know about it.
Below, you will find all the info about the dolphin vagina, its unusual shape, and how and why it all came to be. Read on!
The Appearance of a Dolphin Vagina
Perhaps the most striking thing about the dolphin vagina is its shape. So, that has to be the first topic addressed.
Dolphin vaginas contain numerous small flaps and folds that give them a spiral and twisty shape that isn’t found in any other cetaceans. However, not all female dolphins have the same number of folds and spirals.
For example, bottlenose dolphins have less than ten, while harbor porpoise females can have more than thirteen flaps. What’s more, the number of twists can vary between members of the same species of dolphins.
If you are wondering how scientists even came to discover these shapes and variations, you’ll be surprised to find out that they discovered them at least 2,000 years ago. Even Aristotle wrote about the distinctive shape of the dolphin vagina during his lifetime.
Up to now, scientists and naturalists have dissected thousands of dolphins and built just as many silicone models of their reproductive organs. Those models are what you can study to find out even more about these unusual shapes.
Why Are Dolphin Vaginas Shaped That Way?
After finding out about the shape of the dolphin vagina, most people have only one question in mind. That question is: why do they look like that?
The answer to that question is not that simple, but it is indeed interesting. First off, it is important to mention that dolphin vaginas did not always look like cork-screws with dozens of spirals and flaps. Their current shape is, in fact, the result of centuries and centuries of evolution.
A Short Digression on Dolphin Sex
To explain why such an evolution would happen, it is necessary to know a few facts about dolphin sex in general. Dolphins, like humans, do not mate exclusively for the sake of extending their bloodline and species. Rather, they presumably do so for pleasure, fun, and even asserting dominance.
Male dolphins often form groups and go after a single female. Their size and number make it easier to coerce the female into having sex with them. If she tries to fight them off, they usually end up forcing themselves on her anyway.
In the past, the only way for the female to avoid rape was to roll away and escape. However, that couldn’t work, as it is hard to escape from three or four adult male dolphins in a confined space. So, female dolphins came up with a different way to protect themselves: their own vaginas.
Back to Unusually Shaped Vaginas
Although the female dolphin cannot control which male penetrates her, she can decide whether or not she will get pregnant during the mating. If she doesn’t want a certain male to fertilize her eggs, she can turn slightly and steer the penis and sperm away from the eggs.
How, you may ask? Well, all she has to do is to rotate her body. If she does so, the sperm will go into one of the flaps, which is, to put things simply, a dead end. The male will ejaculate into the flap, and the sperm will never reach the female’s eggs. She will be safe from pregnancy, and the males will leave her alone after that.
So, the unusual shape of those vaginas is just a defense mechanism the females have developed over the centuries. That helps them be in control of who sires their offspring. Though they cannot have complete autonomy over their own bodies, they can control this one thing, and it seems to be enough for now.
A Closer Look at Dolphin Sex
Image source: Pinterest
Taking everything a step further, naturalists were curious to find out whether the models of the vaginas would behave the same way as the real vaginas do. They inflated the penises of dissected dolphins and tried to penetrate the models with them. They also tried to sew them together to see how it all fits together.
Their findings confirmed the defense mechanism theory. The various flaps and spirals made the movement of the penis extremely limited. Scientists concluded that the shape of the vagina made the penetration pretty much unsuccessful. That means that the females really came up with a unique form of contraception all by themselves.
What About Consensual Sex?
Of course, not every mating experience is aggressive and unwanted for female dolphins. If they want to mate with a particular male, they will be welcoming. In cases like that, the male’s penis fits into the vagina perfectly. The flaps and twists are just there to add even more pleasure to the entire encounter.
The point of the evolutionary process was to give females control over their eggs and fertilization. They can use the shape of their organs however they see fit. It can add more pleasure for the male or prevent him from inseminating her eggs. Either way, the female is always in control.
Do All Dolphin Species Have Vaginas Like This?
Although you might think that all female dolphins have spiral-shaped vaginas, that is not the case. Since not all species of male dolphins force themselves on the females, not all females have had to undergo this evolutionary process.
Only females in the species in which scientists recorded forced mating have spiral-shaped vaginas. So, females belonging to those ordinary species that only mate when both parties want to do so lack the flaps and twists in their vaginas.
For males in such species, sex is always enjoyable and it also almost always results in fertilization, since the female wants that as well.
