What happened to mans penis?

[The Peon]

Ok so why do all primates have a bone in the penis, but humans do not? I am assuming since all other primates share this feature that it was given to them by a common ancestor. So why and when did humans lose this penis bone? Do hominid fossils have a penis bone? I would think it would be an advantage to have the ability to always be "erect."

[ecoli]

I'm not sure why, but I was trying to google and answer and I stumbled on this site: http://www.skullsunlimited.com/baculums.html

 

The bone is called a baculum and this website is offering several different types for sale.

 

he Baculum is sometimes referred to a “hillbilly or mountain man toothpick” and can be utilized as a coffee stirrer.

 

Gross.

[Martin]

PZ Myers blog (Pharyngula) has a post about the penis bone.

IIRC it is in pretty much all mammals, not just in primates.

 

The post discusses it in an evolutionary context (PZ is an evolutionary biologist and is interested in all kind of evolution questions like that) and would be findable by search there.

 

I forget the evolutionary pros and cons of having a bone.

People seem to get plenty of babies without, so from a natural selection standpoint I don't know if it matters.

 

women seem to instinctively force us to compete in terms of providing survival and status for the whelps, rather than in how stiff is your wang.

but what do I know, maybe Mother Nature will change her mind and re-instate the bone.

[Skye]

I was talking to a friend the other day who said her physiology lecturer would pull a dog's one out his pocket when he gave lectures on bones. Seemed a little strange.

[Martin]

Seemed a little strange.

 

a little

[The Peon]

Thats just... strange.

 

 

I will try and find that blog. Thanks for the information.

[Phi for All]

Seemed a little strange.[/quote']a little

A little?!?

[Genecks]

Is that right?

All male mammals except humans?

[The Peon]

Is that right?

All male mammals except humans?

 

 

Good question. Can't be ALL can it?

[Psycho]

I would like to know the advantage of having a bone there, i can see a few, but not all that many.

[Skye]

I will try and find that blog. Thanks for the information

I think it's pharyngula.org

[Genecks]

Good question. Can't be ALL can it?

 

Is that sarcasm?

[The Peon]

I would like to know the advantage of having a bone there, i can see a few, but not all that many.

 

No need for viagra?

 

Is that sarcasm?

 

No. Is that uptightness? (guess I should read some of this links in your sig)

[olifhar]

...In the Bible's Book of Genesis, Adam's rib is removed to create Eve. Biblical Hebrew does not have a word for penis. Some scholars (Gilbert and Zevit 2001) have suggested this story is an explanatory myth to explain the absence of a baculum in the male human, rather than a missing rib (in light of the fact that men and women have the same number of ribs).

 

That's an interesting idea.

[ecoli]

That's an interesting idea.

 

indeed... it's not an evolutionary answer but it is certainly an answer. And it actually clears up the rib thing... surely biblical authors knew men and women had the same number of ribs.

[scicop]

I wonder how come big pharma has not invested in understanding the proximal/distal axis development of fine organ.

Its got a DV axis as well, so I imagine there has to be an Apical Ectodermal Ridge (AER) at its tip during dev. If we can tap into perhaps AER signaling (notch/delta) at the penis (in utero) we can get some might big ones popping out no?

 

I'm sure parents would pay for thier sons to have a bigger one!

 

come on big pharma....hop to it!!

[bascule]

indeed... it's not an evolutionary answer but it is certainly an answer. And it actually clears up the rib thing... surely biblical authors knew men and women had the same number of ribs.

 

Unless they believed in Lamarckian evolution, why would removing a rib from Adam cause his offspring to have fewer ribs?

[Mokele]

PRICC

 

Primates

Rodentia

Insectivora

Carnivora

Chiroptera

 

Pretty handy dirty mnemonic for it.

 

Mokele

[mooeypoo]

I'm not sure why' date=' but I was trying to google and answer and I stumbled on this site: http://www.skullsunlimited.com/baculums.html

 

The bone is called a baculum and this website is offering several different types for sale.

 

 

Quote:

he Baculum is sometimes referred to a “hillbilly or mountain man toothpick” and can be utilized as a coffee stirrer.

 

 

Gross.

[/quote']

I actually baught one for my uncle when his daughter turned 1 year old, as a "prosperity" gift

 

And guys, men have troubles operating both organs symultaneously (the brain and their penises) as it is.. thank GOD nature got rid of that bone, and you can't keep it up forever

 

~moo

[insane_alien]

if we had a bone we wouldn't have to devote so many resouces to keeping it up. therefore, we would be able to operate both at the same time.

[mooeypoo]

Good point.

 

But then.. I wonder if that would also drop the attempts and sex-obsessions many of the men get at puberty. Seeing as having a bone there means less effort into bringing it up..

 

~moo

[w33t]

perhaps evolution dictated that the raw materials used for the baculum go instead into enlarging the human penis. After all, humans do have the largest penis of all the Apes - and we sit pretty well on the whole penis to body size ratio.

 

I am having trouble, though, supporting this conjecture as I cannot find any evidence that missing or vestigal alleles coincide with enlargement or enhancement of other body parts. Just some fun, wild speclation

[Steph]

It is absent in humans, marsupials, lagomorphs, and hyaenas, amongst others.

 

So its not all mammals except humans... but the original question remains... if apes have it, why not humans? I read that it is necessary in situations where animals copulate rapidly. maybe the fact that humans were scarce populations and weren't on as much pressure to mate with as many women as possible was a reason?

[tomgwyther]

If you go to the monkey enclosure at your local zoo, the reason for the 'boner-bone' becomes apparent.

 

Those dirty little monkeys are shagging non stop, if they have a break, they'll spend their time sitting in the rubber tyre masturbating.

They probably need the bone to stop their penis falling of from over useage!

 

It's the female monkeys I feel sorry for, getting jumped on and pounded by the male every five minutes.

 

I wonder, do the females have a re-inforced vagina to cope with this?

[zyncod]

From Mankind Quarterly 41 (1):43, the baculum was probably gotten rid of as a result of a longer route in women to the cervix mouth because of organ displacement due to bipedalism. That would mean longer penises would be required (although that would be somewhat mitigated by face-to-face mating rather than the rear mating found in other primates). If you need a longer penis, you're going to need a longer baculum (or a more erectile penis), and having a huge bone swinging around between your legs (as happy as it might make some of us), would not be good if you're going to be walking and running and jumping. Apparently, the ability to retract the penis did not go along with bipedalism, so we lost the baculum at some point.

 

Also, there is the potential, since we can't withdraw our penis, that the display of a large engorged penis was subject to sexual selection.

 

The article's actually kind of interesting, so I can PM it to anybody who doesn't have access.