What position did dinosaurs use to mate (Mating positions of dinosaurs)

The earliest hypothesis about dinosaur mating positions was proposed by a scholar named Halstead in 1975. However, due to his understanding at the time, he believed that dinosaurs, like birds, did not have penises and adopted cloacal kissing. He proposed that the male dinosaur would wrap its tail around the tail of the female dinosaur to move the tail out of the way, ride its forelimbs on the female's shoulders,then put one leg on the ground and the other on the female's back TopBoth sides aim at the cloaca and emit semen. This posture is not much different from the mating posture of most dinosaurs we now infer. The difference is that male dinosaurs should actually have penises, and the tails of most dinosaurs should be stiff and unable to wrap around flexibly.

This posture is close to that of crocodiles and monitor lizards that can be observed in modern times. They also have one leg straddling each other's back, so as to enter the female's cloaca from the side. Since the standing posture of dinosaurs is also different from that of crocodiles, it is inferred that some four-legged and larger female dinosaurs may also adopt a cat-like posture: the female lies in front, waiting for the male to sit up and penetrate.

In this "one-legged riding" position, if it were a large dinosaur, would the weight of the male dinosaur overload the female dinosaur and cause her to fracture? According to some mechanical analysis, it can be found that creatures have to bear about twice the weight when walking, and the burden is greater during strenuous activities such as running. Therefore, scientists believe that as long as one dinosaur can walk, another dinosaur must ride It's no problem if you put it on your back. In other words, excluding extremely large groups such as sauropods (herbivorous dinosaurs with long necks and long tails, which are the largest land animals in the history of the earth), this body position can be applied to most types of dinosaurs. Today's rhinos or elephants can let their partners ride on them for mating, so Triceratops, hadrosaurs, etc. of similar size should not be a problem.

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The hadrosaur-like fan-crested Cygnusaurus (Olorotitan arharensis) and the ceratopsian Styracosaurus (Styracosaurus albertensis) can also be done in this way.

Although the "pressure" is still within the range that dinosaurs can bear, it is not foolproof. Some of the hadrosaurus fossils found in Alberta, Canada, have structures on the tail vertebrae that were injured and healed. Therefore, some scholars speculate that this may have been broken by the male hadrosaurus's excessive movement when riding on it. These are considered easy modes, but if you encounter the huge body of a giant sauropod or the "sharp weapon" on the back of a stegosaurus, will the "traditional" method really work?

​Hard mode posture

Stegosaurs are most famous for the two rows of bony plates on their backs, which may be used for courtship display, defense or body temperature regulation. Although they look majestic, they can become a huge obstacle during mating.

Some scholars once believed that the mating of Stegosaurus may involve the male placing his forelimbs on the bone plate of the female’s hind buttocks, standing up, and entering from behind. But the problem with this pose is that the distance is too long, so unless the Stegosaurus's penis is incredibly large, it can't be accomplished. And such a big penis may not be able to stand up without the support of bones and other structures. Therefore, without finding this structure, this hypothesis is not very accepted by the academic community. Some people may think that a reference to a porcupine or a hedgehog can be made, but the fact is that the body structure of Stegosaurus and the arrangement of the bone plates on its back cannot complete their mating method, so the reference value is not high.

Mating iguanas

At present, there is no conclusion about the mating method of Stegosaurus, but the more mainstream theory is that the female Stegosaurus lies on her side on the ground, and the male Stegosaurus puts his forelimbs on her waist and hips, so that he can reach the cloaca without having to be particularly amazing in size. . This position is thought to work for dinosaurs such as Spinosaurus and Ouranosaurus that have decorations on their backs.

But on the aforementioned spike-shaped dragons, this posture would not work, because the bone plates on their lower bodies are all in the shape of sharp spines, which may accidentally "cut off" the male's offspring. After many computer and model simulations, it is currently believed that they may have adopted a back-to-back approach. The forelimbs of stegosaurs are relatively short, and the females can lie down to better expose their cloaca.

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Stegosaurus with "normal" bone plates and back The nail-shaped dragon in "Knife Mountain" uses different postures to achieve the purpose of getting close.

Finally, there are the sauropods, the largest of all land animals. According to current research, if they use the traditional "one-legged riding" posture, there will be a series of problems: such as whether the female dinosaur's forelimbs can support it, whether the male dinosaur can really stand up on only its hind feet, and whether the male heart above It is powerful enough to supply blood to the top of the head, and the distance between the cloaca of the two in this posture is still very far. In other words, it is difficult for giant sauropod dinosaurs to implement traditional postures.

There are currently two main hypotheses. One is that when giant dinosaurs grew to such a large size, they were actually too old to mate. Therefore, they only used the "one-legged riding" method to mate when they were young and their body size could still bear it. (Will being too fat affect your sexual life?). The other is the "raptor water" mode, which means mating in the water.

In the past, it was believed that if these giant dinosaurs really stayed in the water, the water pressure would compress their lungs to the point where they would not be able to breathe at all. However, a 2003 study using computer simulations found that if the water only reached the shoulders of these dinosaurs, If they were taller, the cavity in the bones would allow them to float with their hindquarters and walk on their forelimbs, allowing them to breathe normally. Footprint fossils with only forelimb footprints have also been discovered in many places, which also proves that these giant sauropod dinosaurs were able to wade and swim. Therefore, some scholars believe that giant dinosaurs also used the buoyancy of water to mate.

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Brachiosaurus (Brachiosaurus) The restoration of "Raptors Playing in the Water".

Research on "dinosaur movement" combines comparisons of living animals, animal behavior and computer simulation technology. Unfortunately, there is still a lack of the most direct evidence, such as footprint fossils or even bone fossils of dinosaurs when they were mating, or Fossils of dinosaur genitalia. But this does not mean that these things are impossible to discover. In 2014, some scholars published research on fossilized genitals of ancient animals. This organ came from an ancient fish (Microbrachius dicki) from the Devonian period 385 million years ago. Perhaps even more shocking evidence is buried under a certain rock formation.

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