The Lost Penis Enigma

Because there are so many different types of penises among our evolutionary relatives, we didn’t know until a recent discovery whether they all had the same origin.

LEARN MORE
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To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords:
- Amniote: Vertebrates whose embryos are enclosed in a thin sac.
- Cloaca: A posterior orifice used for excretion and reproduction.
- Cloacal Kiss: A method that penisless amniotes use to mate, which involves males and females momentarily pressing their cloacae together.
- Tuatara: Reptiles endemic to New Zealand that are the only surviving members of their ancient amniote group.
- Hemipenis: One of the paired copulatory organs of lizards and snakes.
- Bmp4: A protein that, when present, stifles the growth of penises in chick embryos.
- Convergent Evolution: The independent evolution of similar features in different species.

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CREDITS
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Emily Willingham | Script Writer
David Goldenberg | Script Editor & Narrator
Adam Thompson | Illustration, Video Editing and Animation
Ever Salazar | Director
Nathaniel Schroeder | Music

MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC

OUR STAFF
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Sarah Berman • Arcadi Garcia i Rius
David Goldenberg • Julián Gustavo Gómez
Melissa Hayes • Alex Reich • Henry Reich • Peter Reich
Ever Salazar • Leonardo Souza • Kate Yoshida

OUR LINKS
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REFERENCES
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Dendy, Arthur. 1899. “Memoirs: Outlines of the Development of the Tuatara, Sphenodon (Hatteria) punctatus.” Journal of Cell Science s2-42: 1–87.

Cree, Alison. 2014. Tuatara: Biology and Conservation of a Venerable Survivor. Christchurch, New Zealand: Canterbury University Press.

[MinuteEarth]

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[Infernoraptor]

Oh my God, "Phallacy" is such an awesome pun

[AverytheCubanAmerican]

You had my curiosity
but now you have my attention

[simplyale]

I love how always one of the animals is the colors of a pokemon... the turtle is a squirtle in this episode. Absolutely here for it

[Squirrels_On_Film]

Ok, this raised more questions than answers. I had to pause and do a search on chicken reproduction. Forty years later I find out that my parents straight up lied to me about chicken sex. Someone needs to name their cover band Cloacal Kiss.

[SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

The echidna one though...big weird flex but ok
Knuckles has been getting it done I see

[Kyrkby]

0:40
"... this cornucopia of copulatory contraptions..."

Now that's a new sentence.

[afhdfh]

Scientists found many slides of Tuatatra embryos in a museum - that's exactly why they are such a highly protected species. Museums went crazy for samples when NZ was discovered!

[adamiotime]

I miss riding the train on my commute. I'd love to see the weird looks I'd get from others reading that book on the train.

[kindoflame]

As much as I love your videos, I feel like I am going to end up on a list for watching them.

[PatricioHondagneuRoig]

I can see you have talked to my ex. Ok, I'll bite, let's see what the video is about.

[zerofox]

You put a title like that on a video and of course I’m gonna click

[mollmollmoll]

Common Penis Genesis is the name of either my new band or my autobiography. Haven't decided which one yet.

[McBackstabber]

The first thing I thought when I read the title was "Oh so it's a video about my dating life."

[nzhad]

Things i didn't think I would click today

[Alexander-isjo]

Imagine being the scientist explaining that they really really need to look at the embryos to look for penises formations.

[Zaxares]

I bestow upon you one internet cookie for the phrase "cornucopia of copulatory contraptions". XD

[lana.]

This..was an interesting notification to get

[violetskiy]

I can always count on minuit earth to give me my much needed genital knowledge✔️

[DrakiniteOfficial]

I didn't expect Minute Earth to call me out like this