The science of genitals is a relatively new field for biologists, who have long overlooked the evolutionary importance of species' private parts. Biologist Schilthuizen balances the silly and the serious to describe researchers' latest efforts to understand how “evolution has graced the animal kingdom with such a bewildering diversity of reproductive organs.” Schilthuizen tours some of nature's weirdest inventions, such as the chicken flea penis, which is “actually a profusion of plates, combs, springs, and levers” and looks like “an exploded grandfather clock.”
This article was originally published with the title "Nature's Nether Regions" in Scientific American 310, 5, 76 (May 2014)
doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0514-76c
ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)
Clara Moskowitzis Scientific American's senior editor covering space and physics. She has a bachelor's degree in astronomy and physics from Wesleyan University and a graduate degree in science journalism from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Follow Moskowitz on Twitter @ClaraMoskowitz Credit: Nick Higgins
