Monotremes have some great features of the Kingdom of Animals. From the platypus to their 10 sex chromosomes and milky-sweaty skin, hedgehog was seen which looked like a hedgehog and had a baby with a nipple. Both lay eggs and produce milk, the only mammals equipped to make their own custard.
Now, new research is shedding light on another spectacular adaptation of the birth of monotremes: the four-pointed penis of Echidna. Published in the Journal of Sexual Development, Tell-All Paper has unveiled the title “Short-Beaked Echidna’s Unique Penile Twist, Tachyglossus aculeatus” to cite the title. It appears at the bottom of these cut and portly animals (which can swim) sitting quite phallus, poetically described as the “glow of four roses”, each of which has a urethra. This is more than just real tips. Each of the four tips allows sperm to urinate as well as urinate, but significantly only two of these are used in reproductive endeavors.
Leading author and research associate Dr. Jane Fenelon believes that it is because of the corporeal spongiosa, the mass of spongy tissue that surrounds the urethra in men, that it becomes completely separate from the rest of the penis in Echidnas. “In most other species, they start separately, but they combine,” Fenelon told IFLScience. “As the main blood vessels and urethra divide at the same time, the idea is found that the ends of the Echidna penis act like two separate glans penises that explain how they can ejaculate unilaterally. Before the study we predicted that some kind of valve mechanism would control it, but we found nothing like it. Monotremes diverted about 184 million years ago, which may explain why they share some of their characteristics with related animals (let’s be honest, the platypus is like a cheated beaver).
Although the similarities between the laying female echidnas and the reptile are obvious, the penile papers are likely to prove that the males also have an edge of the reptile next to their belongings. “We want to see how this unusual structure develops and how closely it resembles crocodiles and turtles, which show the adult, form the most,” Fenelon said. “There is some evidence that all amniotes (reptiles, birds and mammals) have the same evolutionary origins in sex, and monotremes are a missing part of that puzzle.”
