成人快手

An Australian scientist, Megan Folwell, says her team have found clitorises in female snakes of all nine species that they looked at.

For many years, quite a bit has been known about the genitalia of male snakes - but almost nothing was known about the genitalia of female snakes. So much so, it had even been assumed by some that they didn't have any.

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

But the female sex organ has been "overlooked in comparison", researchers say.

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

"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.

So what took biologists so long? And could it be down to the gender of the scientists involved?

Zoologist Lucy Cooke spoke to Newshour about the history of "scientific patriarchy" in the study of female animals and the significance of the find:

"These studies are incredibly important because they don't just change the narrative of females being passive victims without any agency, but they also teach us new understandings of the laws of evolution."

(Photo: Northern Copperhead, Agkistrodon contortrix. Credit: Getty Images)

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