What is a Cloaca? Find out here

[Donna]

For several weeks we’ve learned about body parts that are the same on birds and humans.  Today’s lesson is very different.

The cloaca is a bird anatomy part most people never see.  It’s under the bird and usually covered by feathers.

Cloaca (pronounced klo-A-ca) is a Latin word that means “to cleanseâ€� and is aptly used to name the bird’s single opening for its urinary, intestinal and reproductive tracts.  Here it is on a great egret, circled in pink.

This multi-purpose “ventâ€� may seem odd but male mammals have a single opening for urine and semen.  Birds economize further.  Everything happens at one location for them.

When birds mate, they touch their cloacas for a few seconds.  This brief “cloacal kissâ€� is just enough time to transfer semen to the female.

If you don’t like the sound of “cloaca� you can use the word “vent,� a prettier, alternative name.

Found this on the blog at Cathedral!

Ok, so call me dumb    but all they do when they mate is rub Cloaca's?? No wonder it's so quick! Dang!  I swear, I never knew that. 

[dale]

nice picture, Donna. I laughed my vent off.

Peregrines apparently don't even touch them.
Hard to believe anything gets accomplished under circumstances like that, but there ya go.

Here's a nice summary written by the very missed Linn Pierson, in an email a little over 4 years ago:

Yes, pefas are the original "wham, bam, thank you ma'am" when it comes to copulation. Which, btw, is the proper term. Mating is two birds that are bonding. When they are bonded, i.e., mated, the thing they do at nesting time is copulate.

No, they don't have penises. Only some of the swans and ducks do, because they mate on the water. The female pefa will always get her tail to the side, male jumps on her back, and the semen does reach her cloaca. When they were reintroducing and using imprinted birds, the falconers would wear a hat with a sort of trough which would catch the semen; the birds would jump on top of their heads and copulate with the hat. Above and beyond for the falconers...


RIP Linn and thanks for the birds and the bees...