• Question: do animals have erections?

    Asked by damrskoala to Claire, Joanna, Kapila, Renata, Suzanne on 26 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Claire El Mouden

      Claire El Mouden answered on 26 Jun 2013:

      Yes. Even barnacles get them!

    • Photo: Renata Medeiros

      Renata Medeiros answered on 26 Jun 2013:

      It really depends on the animal as many species of animals don’t even have penises! This is true for most fish, amphibian and bird species but reptiles, mammals and many invertebrates do have penises or something similar to a penis (in fact, some reptiles even have two!). Animals that have penises do tend to have erections, including species like snails or barnacles, like Claire said! The shape of the penis in snails is actually one of the best ways of identifying which species it belongs to!
      Sometimes I wish animals didn’t have erections because it can get embarassing when, at times, I have to explain to my visitors “what is wrong with my dog”!

    • Photo: Suzanne Harvey

      Suzanne Harvey answered on 27 Jun 2013:

      In terms of primatology, yes they all do! But the really interesting thing is that there are only three species of primate that don’t have actual bones inside their penises – humans, woolly monkeys and squirrel monkeys. In fact, most mammals have penis bones, so yes they have erections, but they don’t work in the same way as human erections!

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