Why does a female hyena have a pseudo (false) penis?

Hyena females are considerably larger than the males. The females are masculinized due to the excess testosterone in their bodies; they have more testosterone in their bodies than most male hyenas. As a result of this masculinization, females are a third larger than the males, have more muscle mass, are more aggressive, and have masculinized genetalia. Their vulva is fused to look like a scrotum and testes, and their clitoris is large and looks like a phallus, and can be erected just like a penis. The vagina runs through the pseudo penis. This makes it hard for them to mate and give birth, since they do so through this pseudo penis. It was once thought that hyenas were hermaphroditic animals because the females sported genitalia similar to the males. In fact, the only sure way to determine the sex of a hyena is that after giving birth the female's two black nipples become enlarged.

The erect 'penis' of both sexes plays a prominent role in ritualized greeting

The "false penis", which is actually a fusion of the clitoris and labia of the vagina, seems to be used in dominance displays and to indicate aggression and willingness to fight. Female hyenas dominate over males in many cases, and they behave in the way that male wolves do when establishing pack heirarchy: they often "mount" subordinate animals, and an "erection" indicates they are confident of being able to take on a challenger in a fight.

Their rather unique genitalia, and the accompanying high levels of "male" hormones, is probably very much connected to their social order and dominance structure. As with wolves, usually only the dominant one or two hyenas in a pack breed in a year. Levels of testosterone are connected to dominance and aggression; and it is likely that the most "male-like" of the females were traditionally the ones that fought their way to the top of the pack, and thus bred. Over the generations this would have selected females closer and closer to the male model, until they became more "male" than the males.

This said, it is not without cost. The first pups a hyena female has have to rip the psuedo-penis open in order to be born; these pups are almost invariably suffocated during the process, and it is not unknown for the hyena mother herself to sustain too much trauma and die of it.

It's actually a enlarged clitoris, and it serves the same purpose of a clitoris in other animals—sexual stimulation.

It's a weapon of ass destruction.

The female hyena does NOT have a 'pseudo penis'. This was an inaccurate term coined by the first biologists to document the species (who happened to be male).
When they were first discovered, scientists did not have a means to examine the animal up-close. From far away, the observers first mistook the elongated vulva for the male appendage. It wasn't until they viewed hyenas copulating that they realized their mistake. The term 'pseudo penis' was actually a reflection of the scientists' embarrassing mistake(mistaking females for males), rather than an accurate label for the body part. The scientific community has since corrected this, and this part is now called what it is : an extended vulva.

No one knows for sure. (And let's be clear: we're talking about SPOTTED hyenas, or "laughing" hyenas. Striped and brown hyenas have 'normal' genitalia.)

lynnenorth is partially right, but she's wrong about several things. Let me go into detail.

First, hyena pack structure isn't like wolves at all. All the female hyenas breed, even the lowest-ranking. The higher-ranking individuals breed more often, and more of their cubs survive as adults, but it's not at all like a wolf pack where only the top mated pair breeds.

Second, androgens don't create the pseudo-penis. The Berkeley Hyena Project researchers (Glickman et. al.) did an experiment where they treated pregnant females with heavy testosterone blockers, and the females still had a pseudopenis and fused labia. (Though it was slightly shorter and thicker.)

Third, there is evidence that erection may be a submissive trait in a hyena greeting, which involves mutual sniffing of genitalia for up to 30 seconds. The subordinate individual usually initiates the greeting. Fun fact: erection is voluntary for both male and female hyenas. However, mounting is indeed a dominant behavior, though mostly practiced by male cubs who are practicing for the tricky technique of actually mating with a female. (Think about that task for a minute.)

Fourth, the male cubs and subadults of pack members are ranked just under their mother. They lose their rank when they leave their home clan and join another clan ("disperse")...which they do because females almost never mate with males born into their own clan. Females, in contrast, stay in the clan they were born in. When a male joins a new clan he ranks at the absolute bottom, and all immigrant males rank below the lowest-ranking female.

Yes, the female hyena both urinates and gives birth through the pseudopenis, and yes, it's just as large as the male's...up to 7 inches long! You almost have to be a hyena researcher to tell the difference...the better way to tell is that females have teats, and are usually thicker in the body towards the hind legs as well as being larger.

In conclusion: we think we know why the females are so aggressive (it takes a hyena cub several years to grow to the point where its jaws can crack bones like an adult, and it needs the protection of its mother until then), but we don't know exactly how or why the pseudopenis came about.

JS
http://www.gnolls.org

Mostly men get hyenas, since men tend to lift more weights and women tend to do more cardio

In fact, the only sure way to determine the sex of a hyena is that after giving birth the female's two black nipples become enlarged.

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If the hyena gave birth.. Isn't it obvious she's female.. And if the female hyena are generally more masculine, larger and aggressive can you not tell with these symptons which hyena's are female..

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the female hyena has what looks like a penis and testicles.
The female actually uses this mock penis to deliver their cubs :)

lol i watched nat geo last night about it