Scientist reveals how dinosaurs had SEX - and claims the ancient beasts even had 'prehistoric foreplay'
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Even though they lived more than 60 million years ago, scientists know what dinosaurs ate, what they looked like, and even how they died. How exactly these extinct creatures had sex, meanwhile, has proved something of a mystery – but now an expert sheds light on this most prehistoric of intercourse.
![[Big dinosaurs might have just fallen over on land and would have needed water to provide support. Artist's depiction of male (top) and female (bottom) Triceratops dinosaurs mating in a lake]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/21/08/94303035-14305205-Big_dinosaurs_might_have_just_fallen_over_on_land_and_would_have-a-133_1737449685590.jpg)
American paleontologist Riley Black says dinosaurs probably had penises and mated in a similar way to today's mammals, with the male mounting the female. However, dinosaur species that had large spiky tails such as Stegosaurus may have had to get 'creative' to avoid causing themselves injury.
![[The specifics of dinosaur sex have remained a mystery, largely because reproductive organs don’t fossilize. What's more, no fossils of dinosaurs caught in the act have ever been found]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/21/10/94339813-14305205-Due_to_the_sheer_weight_the_male_weighing_as_much_as_80_tonnes_i-m-139_1737453687948.jpg)
'For more than a century, paleontologists have wondered about how dinosaurs mated,' Ms Black says in a piece for Smithsonian Magazine. 'Comparisons to living birds and crocodylians hint that individual dinosaurs usually had a phallus or a clitoris, although hard evidence of such structures has not yet been uncovered.'.
![[University of Colorado Denver researcher Martin Lockley (right) and Ken Cart pose beside large a dinosaur scrape they discovered in Western Colorado]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/21/08/94301079-14305205-University_of_Colorado_Denver_researcher_Martin_Lockley_right_an-a-131_1737449685488.jpg)
Dinosaurs roamed Earth for about 165 million years, but had their demise 66 million years ago when our planet was hit by a massive asteroid. All non-bird dinosaurs, pterosaurs, ammonites and most marine reptiles perished, whilst birds, crocodiles, and turtles survived, as well as some mammals – from which humans evolved.
![[Some of the smaller dinosaur species would have had easier physical encounters. Dinosaurs roamed Earth for about 165 million years, but had their demise 66 million years ago when our planet was hit by a massive asteroid]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/21/09/94339819-14305205-image-a-17_1737453540777.jpg)
American paleontologist Riley Black says dinosaurs probably had penises and mated in a similar way to today's mammals, with the male mounting the female. Big dinosaurs might have just fallen over on land and would have needed water to provide support. Artist's depiction of male (top) and female (bottom) Triceratops dinosaurs mating in a lake.
![[Comparisons to living birds and crocodylians hint that individual dinosaurs usually had a phallus or a clitoris]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/21/09/94339817-14305205-image-a-16_1737453538175.jpg)
