Willingham explains that this violent process has caused bedbugs to evolve “something very vagina-like where they tend to get stabbed.” This special less-armored area of their abdomen might minimize harm as the male injects his sperm into the female’s circulatory system. Gender-Bending Genitals

Size and shape? Who knows. But you're asking if it's penis-in-cloaca sex? That's probably how it would work in dinosaurs. Blue whales are the largest creature to ever roam the earth, and they certainly have the phallus to match. Blue whale penises range between eight and ten feet, with a foot-long diameter. Each of its testes along can weigh up to 150 pounds and can ejaculate gallons of sperm in a single go.What we do with things we can't observe in dinosaurs, or any extinct animals, is we look for their closest living relatives. The last remnants of the living dinosaur lineage are the birds. Outside of birds, the closest cousins are crocodiles and alligators, and they have really different genitals.

While female birds have only one oviduct—thought to be an adaptation related to becoming light enough to fly—the presence of two eggs in the dinosaur suggested the presence of two oviducts, as in crocodylians. But the fact that there were only two eggs indicated the dinosaur laid a small number of eggs at a time. Instead of producing a large clutch of eggs and laying them all at once, like a crocodylian, the dinosaur only laid two eggs each round and arranged those pairs around the nest. (Oviraptorosaurs have famously been found preserved on top of nests which seem to show a ring of paired eggs.) The female dinosaur did not have a reproductive system just like that of a bird or a crocodile, but a combination of traits seen in the modern lineages. Of course, no one expects these glowing statues to be completely anatomically correct. However, while wandering through the Land of the Lost section, an interesting question was raised about the dinosaurs. Brennan, P., Birkhead, T., Zyskowski, K., van der Waag, J., & Prum, R. (2008). Independent evolutionary reductions of the phallus in basal birds Journal of Avian Biology, 39 (5), 487-492 DOI: 10.1111/j.0908-8857.2008.04610.xThere's not a binary that is categorically one thing or the other when it comes to genitalia,” says Willingham. Unlike other species that use a similar process—butterflies, mites, beetles—males of these species don’t have a similar penetrative organ, only the females do, says Willingham. A Temporary Tool Like many organisms with intriguing phalluses, flatworms that engage in penis fights are hermaphrodites—just one example that showcases how a sex binary system fails to account for the range, fluidity and diversity of many organisms. Some species of flatworm engage in this duel to see who can inseminate the other. Mating can be competitive, with a single flatworm fertilizing another. In other cases, like with the tiger flatworm, they can play both roles: each flatworm gives and receives sperm from its partner. Whale Hello There! Penises have been a longstanding subject of scientific fascination, and they’re far more studied than vaginas. 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.”

One of our biggest challenges in understanding how dinosaurs lived, ate, and reproduced is the limited information that we have about them. We only have fossils — and fossils don’t preserve soft tissue (with a few very rare exceptions).But it’s a scientific question and I want answers — let’s do some research and try to figure out how dinosaurs had sex! Sadly, Dongs Don’t Age Well Scientists have found that barnacle penis features change based on where they live. Those in rougher waters have shorter, stouter penises, while those in calmer areas have long, slender penises.

These blurred lines often give rise to nature's most fascinating sexual organs. Here are eight penises that are as cool and surprising as the creatures that wield them: Heads Above the RestMating leopard slugs dangle from branches by a shared rope of their own slime with their penises hanging below. As hermaphrodites, these slugs inseminate each other during sex so, once the action starts, two penises are on display. And their penises are easily spotted: They’re electric blue and roughly the size of the slugs themselves.