Barbed Cat Penis | National Geographic

Wow for all species of the cat family
mating is painful it’s not the biting
that hurts her it’s the male’s penis
it’s barbed with more than a hundred
tiny hooks each about a millimeter long
they’re made of keratin a tough fibrous
protein normally found in nails and
claws as the male withdraws the hooks
scraped the walls of the vagina the
barbs have two functions they help
scratch out any competing sperm from
previous matings and they also induce
ovulation in both lions and domestic
cats the pain of scraping stimulates the
female’s brain in response it releases a
specific hormone which triggers the eggs
in her ovaries to begin maturing she
needs to mate at least four times before
the concentration is high enough their
eggs to fully ripen the more she mates
the likely she is to get pregnant
despite the discomfort most species of
cats have a remarkably energetic sex
life during her receptive period a
lioness mates up to an astonishing and
exhausting 100 times a day
our female will only mate with males
from her own pride lions are the only
members of the cat family that are
social they live in groups of between
two and thirty related females and up to
six males cats are different they’re
naturally loners the female will mate
with as many strangers as possible each
mating lasts just seconds afterwards she
rolls over this probably encourages the
sperm to reach deep inside the uterus