Do chinchillas dilate?

[pinkpiggy1989]

I was looking through various chinchilla websites today, just browsing like I always do, when I ended up on Youtube watching a video of a chinchilla giving birth. She only had one, but this was a HUGE baby. Now with how small a chinchillas vagina is, I would imagine nothing that big would have fit. So then I was wondering if a chinchilla dilates similar to the way humans do when giving birth? :hmm:

 

[Riven]

It's not the vagina that dilates, it's the cervix, the vagina stretches. I believe the cervix dilates all live birth animals to allow the fetus to pass.

 

[starleomach]

everything that gives birth dialates. Females dialate (open) and the cervix becomes effaced (goes away/softens up) A goos rule of thumb is for basic biology if it happens in one animal it can/does happen in others, all the same complications occur in any animal. Eutopic pregnancies, breach births etc...It is all similar in function in mammels

 

[caiti]

So...do both cervices dilate then?

 

[minrex]

So...do both cervices dilate then?

Yes. Cervical dilation is caused by hormones and uterine contractions. The body doesn't distinguish between the cervices; it doesn't say, "oh, I'd better make sure the left cervix opens but the right one stays closed".

 

[Ash]

That makes sense, Min.. it explains how you can end up with a fully formed kit and a premature kit from two separate pregnancies in the same chin delivered at the same time.