Do bulls have nipples?

Answer

Dear Pieter,

A bull does indeed have nipples, just like most other male animals. In a bull, there are 4 of them (as in the cow), and they are located at the base and on the neck of the scrotum, in front.

In our pets, only the horse stallion normally has no nipples, while they do occur in the donkey stallion, and also the mules and hinnies (horse x donkey).

The reason for their presence is because they are produced in the embryo even before the body is hormonally controlled to develop into a certain sex (even though the sex is determined by the sex chromosomes at fertilization, the young embryonic body is still ‘not up to date’). The body is therefore on the safe side, and already puts on the nipples in case it will be steered in the female direction. However, if the body is directed in the male direction, the nipples already attached remain useless, and they are neither expanded nor broken off again, except in the case of the horse.