![]() And like the rest of its spiky coat, the penis has sharp penile spines, which are said to function as an ovulation trigger or increase the success rates of fertilization. The females have a two-branched reproductive tract, so the two heads of the penis fit perfectly. Very economically, they can alternate which half they use. ![]() Even more strangely, only two of these heads are used simultaneously, with the other half of their penis shutting down. The Echidna, an already strange animal that lays eggs like fish and birds but produces milk like other mammals, has a four-headed penis because apparently, just one isn’t enough. Their penis is also very agile, with two muscles attached to the pelvis giving it a good range of motion and allowing it to alter its shape depending on the anatomy of the female. The phallus is usually contained within the genital slit on the whale’s underside, protruding only when use is required. ![]() Not only this, but each testicle can weigh up to one hundred and fifty pounds, and gallons of sperm are ejaculated at once. Proportionally, they also boast the largest phallus, ranging from eight to ten feet (2.5-3m), with a one-foot diameter. The Blue Whale Penis and Eight Other Bizzare Male Genitalia Blue Whalesīlue Whales are commonly compared to the size of a basketball court, reaching lengths of up to 95 feet (29m). From sizes, shapes, quantity, function from spirals to forks to penises used like swords…there is no such thing as two penises being precisely the same. We can see, from this, just how the organ can vary over time in one species, let alone over hundreds of thousands of species. The science of evolution is miraculous, isn’t it? The loss of penile spines and the evolution into smooth penises may have resulted from our mating patterns and an increase in monogamous relationships, paving the path for increased complexity in our social structures. It is believed that the human once had small penile spines: barb-like structures that feature many animals’ genitalia we see today. They are a rapidly evolving structure so that even between closely related species, they can differ magnificently. The Macleay Collection’s skins are some of the oldest historical museum specimens of Kākāpō to have been genetically analysed and are an important genetic resource for future studies of Kākāpō genomic diversity.But let’s talk for a moment about penises in general. All nine Macleay specimens yielded unique mtDNA genome sequences consistent with previous findings of high mtDNA haplotype diversity in pre-decline Kākāpō, especially within southern South Island populations. Genetic results corroborate historical records of scientific field trips in the mid1800s taken by museum directors Sir James Hector and Sir Julius von Haast, who sent the skins to the Macleay from New Zealand. Phylogeography suggests the skins were collected on the southern west coast of the South Island, excluding the North Island as a source. Here, we used ancient DNA (aDNA) methods to sequence mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from nine Macleay skins and compared them to published sequences of North and South Island Kākāpō to establish the provenance of each skin. The University of Sydney Chau Chak Wing Museum (formerly the Macleay Museum) holds several Kākāpō study skins in the Macleay Collections (Australia’s oldest natural history collection), obtained in the mid1800s prior to population declines, but with unknown provenance. Kākāpō (Strigops habroptilus), the critically endangered New Zealand ground parrot, suffered massive population declines in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries resulting in a genetic bottleneck and adverse inbreeding effects. Museum specimens of endangered species are important to determine pre-decline population structure and to characterise loss of diversity in surviving populations.
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