• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

Alpaca Sex Is So Weird, It’s Never Been Seen In Another Mammal

May 3, 2024 by Deborah Bloomfield

Alpacas have weird sex lives: they are the only mammal we know of in which the penis enters the uterus to directly deposit sperm. It’s a reproductive strategy that’s never been confirmed in any other mammal before, and new research suggests it may help the kinky camelids’ chances of pregnancy.

Advertisement

Alpacas (Vicugna pacos) – not to be confused with llamas – have long been suspected of mating like this, which would make them unique among mammals, but until now there has only been circumstantial evidence that this is the case.

Advertisement

Mating in the animal kingdom can be pretty weird, and often difficult, meaning there are a multitude of strategies used by different species to maximize their chances of success. In most mammals, the penis is inserted into the vagina and insemination occurs in the cranial vagina or fornix. But for some, known as intrauterine inseminators, insemination happens in the uterus. Species thought to do this include horses, mice, rats, and ferrets. 

Alpacas, however, were believed to be unique in that they have intrauterine insemination and intrauterine penile intromission – meaning that the penis is inserted into the uterus itself where it directly deposits sperm.

To find out if this was really the case, researchers examined the reproductive systems of 10 female alpacas culled for meat either one hour or 24 hours after mating. They found evidence of “conspicuous bleeding” along the reproductive tracts, including the hymen, cervix, and tips of the uterine horns, which was not present in alpacas that had not recently mated.

This, they have taken as evidence that male alpacas thrust their penises through the females’ entire reproductive tracts, penetrating to the very tips of the uterine horns, and in doing so causing abrasions and breaking fine blood vessels.

Advertisement

Sperm were then deposited at the uterine papillae of the oviduct entrance, the study authors write, and from there were able to enter the oviducts within just one hour of mating.

These conclusions are supported by the alpaca’s unusual penis morphology: males have a long, thin, and fibro-elastic phallus with a hard cartilage tip, which is likely responsible for the abrasion the team documented.

It may seem a bizarre method of reproduction – and the researchers don’t refute that – but it could have evolutionary benefits for the curious camelids. 

“A peculiar copulatory mode in alpaca may improve the odds of successful fertilization and pregnancy,” the team conclude. “The fact that the entire reproductive tract in alpaca is essentially functioning as a vagina during copulation likely has some immunological consequences worth further investigation.”

Advertisement

They add that the inflammation caused by the internal wounds may help the fertilized egg implant in the uterus walls or could help to induce ovulation.



Whatever the reason, alpacas’ strange sexual habits are a mammalian anomaly (at least for now) – but there are plenty of other examples of quirky copulation out there, from bats reproducing without penetration because of their seven-times-too-big dongs to sloths screaming in D sharp.

The study is published in the journal PLOS ONE.

Deborah Bloomfield
Deborah Bloomfield

Related posts:

  1. Ice Hockey-Belarusian federation head suspended for political discrimination
  2. Russian city mourns victims of university shooting
  3. Vlad Novakovski and Nicole Quinn to elucidate Series A fundraising
  4. Who Would Win In A Fight, Megalodon Or T. Rex?

Source Link: Alpaca Sex Is So Weird, It's Never Been Seen In Another Mammal

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

  • DNA From Greenland Sled Dogs – Maybe The World’s Oldest Breed – Reveals 1,000 Years Of Arctic History
  • Why Doesn’t Moonrise Shift By The Same Amount Each Night?
  • Moa De-Extinction, Fashionable Chimps, And Robot Surgery – No Human Required
  • “Human”: Powerful New Images Mark The Most Scientifically Accurate “Hyper-Real 3D Models Of Human Species Ever”
  • Did We Accidentally Leave Life On The Moon In 2019 – And Could We Revive It?
  • 1.8 Million Years Ago, Two Extinct Humans Had One Of The Gnarliest Deaths In History
  • “Powerful Image” Of One Of The World’s Rarest Tigers Exposes The Real Danger In Taman Negara
  • Evolution, Domestication, And A Lot Of Very Good Boys: How Wolves Became Dogs
  • Why Do Orcas Have White Spots Near Their Eyes?
  • Tomb Of First King Of Ancient Maya City Discovered In Belize
  • The Real Reason The Tip Of Your Tape Measure Wiggles Like That
  • The “Haunting” Last Message From NASA’s Opportunity Rover, Sent From Inside A Planet-Wide Storm
  • Adorable Video Proves Not All Gorillas Hate The Rain. It Might Even Win One A Mate
  • 5,000-Year-Old Rock Art May Show One Of Ancient Egypt’s First Rulers
  • Alzheimer’s-Linked Protein Levels “20 Times Higher” In Newborn Babies – What Does This Mean?
  • Americans Were Asked If They Thought Civil War Was Coming. The Results Were Unexpected
  • Voyager 1 & 2 Could Be Detected From Almost A Light-Year Away With Our Current Technology
  • Dams Have Nudged Earth’s Poles By Over 1 Meter In The Past 200 Years
  • This Sugar Could Be A Cure For Male Pattern Baldness – And It’s Been In Our Bodies All Along
  • “Cosmic Immigrants”: Daytime Star Seen In 1604 May Be An “Alien Type Ia Supernova”
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version