The cloaca is the hole-y grail to understanding prehistoric copulation.
Bob Nicholls/Paleocreations.com 2020Jakob Vinther, University of Bristol and Bob Nicholls/Paleocreations.com 2020
Though it’s been described this way, a cloaca is “more than just a butthole,” says Vinther. “It’s the Swiss army knife of back ends.” For help with their description, Vinther says, the study authors looked to the wide-ranging cloaca of other land-dwelling vertebrates. Some, such as those belonging to turtles, look like a wizened, puckered grin.
“The shape and color of the tissue that’s preserved suggests that these animals might have used both odor and visual signals to interact with other members of their species,” Kelly said in an email.
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