Anatomically, everything about a dolphin's clitoris indicates it evolved to help them feel pleasure, a group of researchers say.
Humans and dolphins have even more in common than we might have thought, new research suggests. Biologists say they’ve found clear anatomical evidence that female dolphins have a fully functional clitoris that helps them experience pleasure during sex—just as it does for humans. The findings may one day help scientists trace back the evolutionary origins of the sexual organ and sex in general.
“Dolphins have vaginal folds, and we were studying these folds to try to figure out their function and why they are so diverse across species,” Brennan told Gizmodo in an email. “As we dissected all these vaginas, the clitoris was obviously very well developed, so we decided to investigate how much we knew about it.”
Brennan and her team were able to closely look at the clitoral tissue of 11 bottlenose dolphin females that had died of natural causes. Aside from studying the surface physical features of the clitoris, they also examined the presence of nerve endings, muscles, and blood vessels. Everything they found pointed to the same thing: a fully working funmaker.
For one, Brennan noted, the dolphin clitoris is relatively large and filled with plenty of erectile tissue and blood vessels that allow it to engorge quickly. Their clitoris also grows in size as a dolphin matures, much as it does with human puberty, and it’s surrounded by a band of connective tissue that helps it keep its shape, indicating that it’s a valuable body part.
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