Men have no bones in their penis, why? This is not an exclamation of disappointment. Rather, the opposite. Bakulum is a sex bone that helps not a small part of mammals, including many primates (which, by the way, we belong to), mate. But why is this bone missing in men, but in walruses and monkeys? Scientists, as usual, found the answer, and it is quite romantic.
Which animals have a baculum?
Bakulum in translation from Latin means "stick" or "staff", which probably became a reason for jokes among biologists, and not one. Bone tissue located in the penis of males of many mammals is called this word. Of the thirty units of this class, five have it. Bats, rodents, primates and predators have baculum. The bone in the penis is what makes walrus, raccoon and gibbon related. Even the dog’s penis has this bone.
For some reason, people did not get into this “club”, and British scientists were able to get good grants to find out why such an injustice occurred. Keith Opie, an anthropologist at University College London, conducted a study of the evolution of the genital bone in order to find out why this detail is not present in the body of a modern man. He had to answer several questions for this: the time of the appearance of the baculum, what is it for when it disappeared from the ancestors of man. Yes, because our ancestors once had a bone in the penis.
What is the sex bone inside the penis for?
Baculum is needed for species that prefer long mating. Scientists also came to the conclusion: this bone is longer in those males who have more than three minutes in the process of ejaculation. Experts believe that such a strategy helps the animal prevent the “competitor” from fertilizing its female. In this case, the male tries to penetrate into the female as deep as possible, holding out in this marathon as much as possible. This is done in order to minimize the chances of competitors for fertilization. Therefore, the bone in the penis can be compared with a crutch supporting in love joys.
Moreover, in different species, the shape and size with respect to the body are quite different. For example, the baculum of a male bear macaque in length reaches five centimeters with an individual weighing only ten kilograms, whereas a male chimpanzee, which is larger, has a bone size of only a fingernail. The bone in the penis of a large-breed dog reaches a length of 10 cm, and among walruses it is not even 75 cm long. Bakulum raccoons can reach thirteen centimeters (and, for some unexplained reason, are very popular on all kinds of trading platforms). In the USA and Canada, it is known to many under the name “Highlander's Toothpick,” but most likely it is just a metaphor.
The appearance of the baculum
Based on the research of Keith Opi, the first baculum in mammals appeared ninety-five million years ago, and in primates fifty. Typically, about 1.9 million years ago, humanity got rid of this bone (not so long ago, it happened).
The baculum disappeared, ironically, precisely in Homo Erectus, in the "Homo erectus". However, according to some studies, it is believed that the bone in the penis of this species was, at least, when it only appeared in the vastness of Africa. It’s just that anthropologists do not have enough data, and even they could take many baculums for the bones of different animals that were near the skeleton of an ancient person.
Monogamy, as the cause of the disappearance of the baculum
So, most primates have a bone in the penis, and our relatively ancestors had it too. In an era when stone tools were already in use and perhaps there was even fire, men could boast of their genital bone. But what happened, where did this part of the body go?
Keith Opie suggested that to a modern person the answer may seem very romantic. Over time, Bakulum became a burden, this happened when a person became upright. This bone disappeared completely as unnecessary due to the fact that monogamy and strong love relationships began to develop. More precisely, there was a desire for them, since it is still difficult to call our species completely monogamous.
Monogamy, according to the scientist, acquired the form of a leading reproductive strategy precisely about two million years ago. A man in a monogamous relationship does not need regular marathons with deep penetration, since he is the only male for his chosen one. But this, of course, is ideal. That is, love with romance (as a mechanism of evolution) made our view of hard mating less focused.
Bakulum of polar bears
Polar bears, by comparison, do it so hard that a male in the process can break his penis. So, at least, claims the Animal Planet channel. That is, if you look at the polar bone of the polar bear, you can find out how many times it mated - by the number of fractures. So, probably, it’s even good that the representatives of a strong half of humanity have no bones in their penis.
Can a man break a penis?
There are no bones in the penis, but it can still be broken. In medical practice, cases such as fracture of the penis are mentioned. Hunter Wessells (head of the Department of Urology at the School of Medicine, University of Washington) claims that a penile fracture is a severe form of flexion of the erect penis that occurs due to rupture of the albumen.
The cavernous bodies (a special spongy tissue in the core of a man’s penis, to which blood rushes during an erection) is surrounded by a white membrane. When this membrane ruptures, blood, usually limited to this space, can leak into other tissues, resulting in bruising and swelling on the penis.