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Why Men Don't Have Sensory Whiskers and Spiny Genitals
sciencehabit writes "Most male mammals wield a penis covered with spines made of keratin, the same material that forms fingernails, to sweep out competitors' sperm and irritate a female into ovulating. Even chimpanzees, our closest relatives, have penile spines. So why don't men? A new study suggests that this feature disappeared due to a chunk of DNA that went missing after our evolutionary divergence from chimps. The researchers have identified another DNA deletion that may have contributed to humans' bigger brains."
Because I'm good at irritating females, yet somehow it doesn't lead to their ovulating.
Furthers this concept.
You guys don't have to trim your nails down there? I'm not normal???
What, you mean these spines on my penis aren't normal?
I'd better go see a doctor.
...because I refrain from sex with porcupines and hedgehogs. And I didn't even have to RTFA.
The phrase "wield a penis" appears in it.
I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
This is just one of many things the aliens did to us when they first came to this planet and found the apes to be perfect slaves.
All the women had sex with the first freak born without them.
...we evolved from a common ancestor. That Ancestor is not a chimp but something completely different in terms of biological classification. That's like saying A GPS device evolved form a defibrillator.
...because women, generally, don't want them? They by & large run the reproductive sweepstakes, even back in the "me big strong caveman, me conk woman on head" days when "consent" was a little more broadly interpreted.
And which came first, male lack of spines, or female concealed ovulation?
When analyzing the genetic record, how can one 'sort out' the distinction between DNA changes that have happened due to mutation, compared to the changes induced by broad and consistent female choice?
-Styopa
"How do you know I don't?"
... I'll have a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster with a side of Plutonium Nyborg
Most male mammals wield a penis covered with spines made of keratin, the same material that forms fingernails, to sweep out competitors' sperm and irritate a female into ovulating.
Human females are different. They get irritated when ovulating. Before, during and after, in fact.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
From TFA: Men don't have spiny penises or sensory whiskers on their faces because some DNA got deleted. Likewise some brain growth. Couple of researchers decided to look at what humans are missing relative to chimps, as opposed to what we have that is extra. They found a buncha stuff but don't really know what it means.
Except that one area involves penile spines and sensory whiskers. Another area has to do with brain growth.
Not a lot of actual info here.
-- "Oh. This guy again."
Judging from all the penis enlargement remedies being peddle through spam, I am sure somewhere on the planet, there are teams of researchers working on additional deletion to human DNA that would produce bigger PENIS.
Don't click on those URL shorteners!
Set your phasers on "funky"!
I've always wondered about this.
copied direct from the BBC, AGAIN !!!
Does that mean woman do??? (Hey, its slashdot...)
No single raindrop believes it is to blame for the flood.
Don't click on those URL shorteners!
No url shortener - I quoted part of the article I linked to.
Though I *did* leave out this part out, since it wasn't really on topic
Mentioned on slashdot.
Even chimpanzees, our closest relatives, have penile spines. So why don't men?
Intelligent Design aka Creationism perhaps?
I got pearly penile papules does that count?
Humans have very atypical sex lives because they have sex for social bonding rather then just reproduction. This is just one of several anatomical oddities that humans have related to sex.
Wonder if the furry fanciers would be so eager if they knew it came as a matching set...
at some point of evolution both genders reached a common agreement: men would drop the penile spines while women would drop the vagina dentata.
Since then, getting laid has been just a little easier... except for /. population, of course.
or maybe the spines melted off when Xenu of the Galactic Confederacy exploded all them nukes in the volcanoes...
Because human females collectively didn't like it for whatever reason, and selected against it. Nothing more, nothing less. Evolution in action.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
Even chimpanzees, our closest relatives, have penile spines. So why don't men?
Intelligent Design aka Creationism perhaps?
Yeah, maybe if you're FIVE FUCKING YEARS OLD and "well, GAWD did it" is an acceptable explanation for everything...
Spined for her pleasure?
So why don't men?
Er, RTFA? RTFS? FFS. I must be new here.
Intelligent Design aka Creationism perhaps?
Don't be stupid. Of course not.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
So Eve was created from a ribbed?
Still in the genepool only very diluted: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Hirsuties_coronae_glandis
I think, therefore you are.
When are you going to learn that Darwin doesn't exist!
Which will no doubt take some barbed comments and pointed insights to thrust ourselves into a much deeper and greater understanding.
Perhaps twice, after a 30 minute resting period.
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
Only informative comment in the whole discussion. This mutation is actually not that uncommon at least one in ten men should have it to some degree.
This reeks of troll.
Intelligent Design is retarded. We know why biodiversity exists, and it ain't no magic man in the sky, be he alien, deity, or otherwise.
Thank God.
I hope you all can appreciate the irony of that statement.
First off, human males *do* have a mechanism to sweep out sperm from other males, consisting of the most visually obvious part of the male penis and protracted mechanical movement. We lost spikes, we evolved something else to do the same function. Secondly, there are many other mammals that have different methods for accomplishing the same thing: male squirrels have something like superglue that forms a plug after coitus, to prevent other males gaining access afterwards. (And female squirrels have claws and quite a bit of expertise in removing those same plugs, as you'd expect in any good arms race.) Likewise, many male lizards and insects avoid the problem by just staying connected until the female is ready to lay her eggs, which puts a whole lot of stress on the female during that period: they both get eaten pretty often.
But if you really want to get weird, go look at insects like bedbugs, where males practice traumatic insemination: they don't go looking for an orifice, they make one, and let the female's body figure out what to do with the results. Or bees, where the barbs aren't there to stimulate ovulation but to make sure the penis breaks off and acts as a plug that can't be removed.
And the next step weirder is hermaphrodites, where mating is a contest in which both wish to inseminate the other without getting inseminated, so mating strategies get seriously complicated. (The phrase 'penis fencing' has been used.)
Anyone who is curious about this should read the brilliant book Promiscuity: the evolutionary history of sperm competition by Tim Birkhead. It will make you relieved to be human.
Nostalgia's not what it used to be.
That is when the aliens has sex with the apes
Is calling someone a spineless bastard a complement?
IT's not a troll, he's trying to be funny.
Just becasue you're sensitive to an issue, doesn't mean every comment about it is a troll.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Don't be stupid? You are new here
All your 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 are belong to us
w.e the earth is only 6 thousand years old. 5 years isnt that short in comparison.
Eugenics not just for Nazis.
We'll be puzzling over our lack of elbow talons.
To everyone you commented so far: You guys crack me up HAHAHAHAHAHA. GREAT STUFF!
fap fap fap...
A logical evolutionary step, where physical capability took second place to mental flexibility. Those groups of human where physical capability took precedence over mental flexibility died out when adverse environmental conditions left them less capable of surviving then the mentally flexible brethren who could throw rocks, start a fire and put on and take off a fur coat.
The biggest driver for human evolution has likely been the recent (in evolutionary terms 2 million odd years) repeated ice ages giving precedence to mental agility of physical capability (being able to remain in a region and not having to pursue suitable climatic regions whilst stressed and against competition).
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
or the women preferred men with un-calloused hands, or both
look sig is kool
Knowing the female anatomy, I lack to see the use this would have , scraping some sort of fingernail material around inside of them, some already have a problem with just getting poked in the first place.....without at least being brought out to diner first
However, I since found out that they did some popular long-running TV cartoons in the 90s (which I hadn't been aware of, having been past kids cartoons at that point). It appears that this is where the characterisation et al comes from.
In the cartoons, it was Dr. Robotnik who was obsessed with penises.