Fun Fact - Snakes Have Two Peni*es?

Welcome to another article in the Fun Fact series. You can see all the articles by clicking the link below -

Fun Facts - Read To Get Surprised

Let's cut straight to the point - Do Snakes really have two peni*es?

The answer to the question is a resounding yes. Snakes do have two of them. Not only snakes:

Lizards also have two peni*es. Let's have a look at some facts then -

• They are called hemipenes*. Each of them is connected to a single testis.
• Both of them can ejaculat* sper*.
• Only one is used at the same time.

But why?

There's not exactly a perfect reason. But scientists do have come up with a theory to explain this peculiarity. There's this thing called Mating Plug:

It is made up of gelatinous substances. Snakes can produce gelatinous sper*. When a male snakes mates with a female snake, they insert this gelatinous substance into the female's vagin*. Later on, the gelatinous substance gets hardened and blocks the entry of the female genital tract. Mating plus prevents other males from mating with the same female. (Wish humans had a feature like this.)

Scientists say that this gelatinous substance takes some time to produce. As a result, a male snake can use one peni* while mating and can prepare the gelatinous substance in the other one at the same time. In this way:

They can cheat their partners without getting caught. The previous sentence was a joke for those who doesn't understand the term "sarcasm."

This plug gives the male snake's sper* a significant time advantage to fertilise the egg. The female snake can remove the mating plug, though. (Checkmate female mammals, you can't do that.) Jokes apart, this plug essentially prevents any other male's DNA from getting into the female also. So, the fertilised egg contains pure DNA.