A prehensile penis helps males navigate the complex, labyrinth-like reproductive tracts of female dolphins.ĭolphins don’t just use their penises for baby-making, either. They have a prehensile penis, meaning it can swivel, grab and grope, much like a human hand. Getting Handsyĭolphins have particularly dexterous phalluses.ĭolphins are known for their intelligence, promiscuity and absurdly dexterous penises. This creature’s coat of quills don’t spare its genitalia, which features penile spines-a horrifying frequent trait in the animal kingdom (even humans once had them) which may increase fertilization success or trigger ovulation. Next time the echidna mates, he’ll alternate which half he uses.īy shutting down half of their penis at a time, male echidnas fit perfectly with the female’s two-branched reproductive tract. But those extra two heads aren’t there just to show off. During copulation, echidna penises operate on a part-time schedule: half the penis temporarily shuts down while the other two heads are responsible for fertilization. Or so it seems for the echidna, a spiny egg-laying mammal, which has evolved a four-headed penis. Here are eight penises that are as cool and surprising as the creatures that wield them: Heads Above the RestĮchidnas have a four-headed penis, though only two heads are put to use at a time. These blurred lines often give rise to nature's most fascinating sexual organs. “There's not a binary that is categorically one thing or the other when it comes to genitalia,” says Willingham. Many of the creatures packing the most surprising phalluses are hermaphrodites, meaning they also have female reproductive organs. Gender and sex rarely fit into tidy categories and animal penises are no different. Typically, a penis helps male animals reproduce sexually with a female-however, exceptions exist. One explanation for this research gap, says Willingham, is “because of who has been asking the questions until quite recently, and who's been deciding how those questions should be answered.” Penises have been a longstanding subject of scientific fascination, and they’re far more studied than vaginas. Phallacy plunges readers into the wild and wacky world of animal genitalia while exploring the social and cultural significance of penises as symbols of power and identity. Her book, Phallacy: Life Lessons from the Animal Penis, hit shelves in September. Just ask Emily Willingham, a biologist and journalist who’s been studying penises for over a decade. The more scientists learn about penises, the more they realize how varied sex organs are.
Across vastly different species and ecosystems, unique environmental pressures have allowed creatures of many species to evolve an array of shapes and sizes-from the electric blue penis of the leopard slug to the blue whale’s ten-foot phallus. Birds have them, bees have them, even regular old fleas have them, but in the animal kingdom, no penis is exactly like the next.
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