Camelid Male Anatomy - Anatomy & Physiology

Penis

Slim and worm-like
Points backwards when flaccid.
- Squat and urinate rearwards as females do.
Process at the end of the penis is firm, composed of cartilage.
- It has a slight clockwise curve to aid insertion of the penis through the cervix so that semen can be deposited directly into the uterine horns.
In newborn and juvenile males, a sheath of skin covers and adheres to the penis, making extrusion impossible.
- Lost at 1-3 years
- Loss of adhesions is a sign of sexual maturity.
If castration is prior to the Testosterone peak at the beginning of puberty, then adhesions may never completely break down.

Scrotum is situated below the perineum, at the rear of the body (as in cats), as opposed to under it and between the hind legs (as in other domestic species).
The scrotal skin tends to be smooth and fine during the height of breeding activity and then becomes thicker during the period of sexual inactivity because of decreased testicular size.
Testes are oval in shape and freely mobile within the scrotum.
2-3 cm in length
Usually descended at birth but are very small.
Size is an indication of fertility (larger testes indicate greater fertility).
Enlarge during the breeding season.

Outer diameter of the seminiferous tubules varies from 113 - 250 mm and gets significantly smaller during the non-breeding season.
The season does not however have any effect on the size of the spermatozoa although it does on their number.

As in other species the epididymis is composed of three distinct parts: the caput (head), the corpus (body) and cauda (tail).