What Does a Duck’s Penis Look Like?
Welcome to the weird side of the internet, where you discover the most bizarre things on Earth living right under our noses. Today, you will get to find out about how weird ducks’ penises are!
Generally, most birds do not have penises anymore due to evolution, but waterfowls, such as ducks and geese, have taken a different route.
If you have not already seen a duck’s genitalia on the internet, you may now be wondering, what does a duck’s penis look like?
We are sure that the answer is not at all what you would expect. A duck’s penis is shaped like a corkscrew with ridges and backward pointing fleshy spines, sometimes, and sometimes longer than their own bodies.
This naturally makes mating a bit eccentric, but Mother Nature works in mysterious ways. So how do ducks have sex with their corkscrew penises, and why did they evolve this way?
Read this article to find out the answers to these intriguing questions and some bonus trivia!
Related articles about fun facts of ducks!
How Does a Duck’s Penis Work?
The first thing you should know in order to understand how a duck’s penis works are what the shape of a duck’s vagina is. A female duck has a similarly corkscrew-shaped vagina, with several blind pouches ending in narrow spirals.
A drake’s penis spirals anti-clockwise, and a female duck’s vagina spirals clockwise so that they fit together snuggly.
When the drake finds a female duck that he likes, he will mount her and align the tip of his penis with her vagina. Once ready, the penis is described to ‘Explode’ and, in one-third of a second, the drake ejaculates his sperm inside the duck.
The process of intercourse is not very long, to say the least, and it is probably a good thing that ducks do not feel complicated emotions.
We are sure that they would mostly feel embarrassed after they have had sex.
Where Is the Penis of a Duck?
While most birds, who even have a penis, have phallus-shaped genitalia, the ducks ended up on the ‘Twisted’ end of evolution.
The drake – a male duck, keeps his penis inside out within a sack, but it protrudes as it becomes erect and emerges from his body. The penis does not actually protrude before sex but is pushed directly inside the female duck’s vagina once the duck’s genitals are aligned.
The sack is located at the base of their tales, behind their feet, and when the penis is still erect after sex, you will be able to see it hanging from his body.
Interestingly, the ducks’ penises do not become stiff but remain soft and flexible in order to enter into the female ducks’ spiraling labyrinth of a vagina.
What Is the Average Length of a Duck’s Penis?
The length of the duck’s penis has also given scientists interesting insights into the species’ social norms.
Although calculated to be averaging 9.8 inches in general, it has been discovered that the length of a duck’s penis varies depending on how close he is to other male ducks.
The Argentine lake duck’s penis holds the Guinness World Record for the longest one, with a whopping 16.7 inches penis in length!
Before we get into the issue of the varying sizes, however, you should know that drakes grow their penises during mating seasons which then waste away once the time is up.
Competition to be the Alpha
As if to show off their masculinity and mark themselves as superior, it has been observed that the maximum length of the male duck’s penis will increase when it is around other males.
This means that the size of their penis actually varies and adapts depending on the competition they have, a rare trait even in the animal kingdom.
In an experiment, Patricia Brennan of Mount Holyoke College studied that drakes that had been kept around other males and only a few females grew their penises 15% to 25% longer than the drakes kept separately, with only female ducks for company.
Aggressive ducks customarily have longer penises as well. Similarly, ducks that have smaller penises begin losing them sooner than the ducks with larger ones or the ducks isolated from their competition.
It is good to know that they can at least change their circumstances next season!
Why Do Ducks Have Such Weird Penises?
Disturbingly, most mating rituals performed by ducks are forceful and aggressive, and had they been humans, they would have definitely been locked up in jail.
In fact, the battle of the sexes is quite a discussed topic amongst scientists, and ducks have been able to provide quite in-depth knowledge on it.
The reason their penises are shaped like a corkscrew and have backward-facing spines is so that they can embed themselves more firmly inside females.
Once inside, the sperm will be trapped. However, in response, female ducks have evolved several dead-end pockets that do not lead into their actual vagina.
This helps them avoid unwanted pregnancies from drakes that are not their mates.
The Battle of the Sexes
This evolution of peculiarly shaped genitals in ducks shows that the conflict between them plays a huge enough role that they have had to make changes in their genes to fight each other off.
Female ducks are often injured critically during mating, sometimes even leading to their deaths.
Ruddy ducks, in particular, are known to be violent. They tend to force themselves inside the mates of other ducks when they are not able to find a mate of their own.
Sadly, it is also not uncommon to see several drakes ganging up on a female.
Love Does Exist
However, sex is not a battle every time ducks mate. When a female duck is interested in the male that is approaching her, she will relax the muscles inside her corkscrew vagina (called cloacal muscles) and give him easier access, with no reroutes.
This is seen mostly in scaup ducks, who mostly have mutual sex and are generally agreeable towards each other.
It is good to know that female ducks are able to at least control their pregnancies because only 3% of them have been studied to have babies from forceful penetration. It truly goes to show how size really does not matter.
Conclusion
Thus, we come to the end of this article on what does a duck’s penis look like?
As amusing as the topic might seem, it really is quite intriguing how the social habits amongst animals can lead to such unusual evolutions. It just goes to show how much we still do not understand about our world.
We hope you enjoyed this article and if you want to read more about ducks and their habits, connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest!
Article References:
- https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/100657-longest-bird-penis
- https://www.wired.com/2010/08/duck-penises/
- https://news.yale.edu/2009/12/23/yale-researchers-reveal-secrets-duck-sex-it-s-all-screwed
- https://metro.co.uk/2017/09/22/how-do-ducks-have-sex-with-their-corkscrew-shaped-penises-6946235
- https://www.sciencefocus.com/nature/duck-penis-corkscrew/
- https://metro.co.uk/2017/09/22/how-do-ducks-have-sex-with-their-corkscrew-shaped-penises-6946235/
- https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/ballistic-penises-and-corkscrew-vaginas-the-sexual-battles-of-ducks
Image Credit:
- Photo from Canva.com/photos
- Photo from Shutterstock
