# Hermaphrodite (with pics)



## keren (Oct 26, 2008)

Cool! I think I have a hermaphrodite ewe lamb! Well its kinda cool to see, I've never seen it before, but also kinda a bummer cos I was looking forward to breeding her.

Her vulva is quite deformed ... she's a fat tail sheep which is why the vulva hasnt been examined before ... photos will come soon as it stops raining and I can go out there without having to grow webbed feet!

ETA (sorry if some of this is repetitive, I just copied it off what I posted on a cattle forum):

This is a new one for me. Looked under this girls tail because she'd been a bit scoury. Well, things are very weird back there. She is one crazy mixed up kid.

She's a Damara sheep ... a ewe lamb ... well I thought.










Under her anus, she has an opening that she pees from, under that she has a rudimentary penis, under that she has a rudimentary vulva, and she also has two rudimentary testicles in their own separate scrotums.

Her belly is clean no sheath/pizzle.

Close up of the area she pees from









Close up of the penis and vulva









You can kinda vaguely see two small testicles here









I intend to shave the area down once it stops raining, to get some clearer pictures

This discovery answers quite a few questions. She was a twin which the mum rejected, so she was bottle raised. Obviously mum knew there was something wrong with her. She's also got huge horns for a female of her age. She's a touch aggressive sometimes, and occasionally she acts like a male (courtship behaviour).


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

*Re: Hermaphrodite*

wow ....that would be something to see........ :shocked:


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## keren (Oct 26, 2008)

*Re: Hermaphrodite*

its amazing to look at actually. I'll try to describe it lol but it probably wont be very good

her vulva doesnt sit under her anus like it should, its way way way down. in between the two there is sort of what looks like a slit but without an opening, just like a bit of a fold

as you travel down, there is a round knobbly thing, looks like a growth or something, then a bit further down from that is her actual vulva

very weird

seems to explain quite a bit though. she was a twin and the mother rejected her - maybe knew there was something wrong with her? and she has the biggest horns I've ever seen on a female, and she blubbers every now and then like a male.

hmm, now I need to figure out what to do with her.


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## Crissa (Oct 7, 2007)

*Re: Hermaphrodite*

:shocked: That would be weird! You could always use he/she as a teaser. :shrug:


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## keren (Oct 26, 2008)

*Re: Hermaphrodite*

you know Crissa, I was wondering if she (I cant think of her as an it or he lol) would be useful as a teaser ... since I do quite a bit of AI and I'm planning to AI everyone (sheep and goats) next year all sync'd with CIDRs, and just run clean up males. So she may get to stay to be a teaser/spotter for me.

She was SUPPOSED to be my publicity girl, a friendly one that could come to shows and be patted and talk to people, and having baby lambs on her for people to cuddle would have been even better ...

lol I just thought of something ... for most publicity days, I bring a male and female of each breed ... well with her I could kill two birds with one stone, I'd only have to bring one animal! :ROFL:


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

*Re: Hermaphrodite*



> lol I just thought of something ... for most publicity days, I bring a male and female of each breed ... well with her I could kill two birds with one stone, I'd only have to bring one animal! :ROFL:


 :ROFL: Now that is funny. :ROFL: :ROFL: :ROFL: :ROFL:



> hat would be weird! You could always use he/she as a teaser.


 great idea Crissa...... :wink: :greengrin:


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## keren (Oct 26, 2008)

pictures added


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## KW Farms (Jun 21, 2008)

That's odd. My friend shows sheep and she told me once there was a girl in the ring with her who didn't know much about sheep, well anyway, the judge comes to her sheep looked it over and determined it was a hermaphrodite and she was asked to leave the ring, the girl was just devestated because she had worked so hard with her lamb on showing all to be asked to leave the ring...Kinda sad.


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## kelebek (Oct 5, 2007)

Thank you for sharing the pictures - that was really neat to see. I have seen it in 2 dogs before but that was it.


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## grandmajo (Oct 14, 2008)

Wow, I've seen a few pictures of goats with it, but they were not nearly as evident as this is - at least to me. Funny how animals seem to know when there is something wrong with one of their young. I remember somebody telling me about a momma cat rejecting one of her kittens, and it turned out the kitten was a he/she.


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## sweetgoats (Oct 18, 2007)

Keren, That for the information. That is very interesting. I have never seen that before and it is good to finally see.

She looks so cute in that last picture like she is so proud of herself.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

WOE :shocked: ....now that is something different .............thanks for sharing...... :wink: :greengrin:


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## goathappy (Oct 5, 2007)

Wow that is really interesting, I"ve never seen that, thanks for sharing


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## RowdyKidz (Apr 2, 2009)

Thanks for sharing! That was rather interesting!


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

Very interesting! Thank you for the pics....really odd to see the "obvious" as most hermaphrodites are "internal".


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