Note to self

Lenin's Tomb strayed this afternoon into badger and penis territory.

Must go to local zoology dept library to pick up this paper (excerpt below) from the Journal of Mammalogy on mustelid baculums.

From the ancestral condition, it is possible to derive forms with a more
complicated head that has projections and openings (e.g., melines, Eira barbara, Galictis, Gulo gulo, Martes) or spoon-shaped and cup-shaped processes (e.g., Ictonyx, Mellivora capensis). Another evolutionary trajectory
involves the distal tip of the baculum becoming hook-shaped and the urethral
groove well developed (e.g., Mustela, Vormela peregusna).

Tomcats AFAIK don't have baculums, but as in mustelids brutal mating seems required to induce ovulation and thus conception. Toms have backward pointing barbs on their penis, which like a mustelid baculum are probably important in inducing ovulation.



PS Googling 'animal penis' is not a sensitive or specific search unless seeking zoophiliac porn

Erratum- Turns out tomcats do have baculums, like most mammals inc. non-human primates, and that this unarticulated bone, suspended like the laryngeal hyoid bone from ligaments, is a component of the ancestral mammal skeleton.
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