Scientists on Twitter are trying to find the most impressive animal genitalia.
ATTEN: WE ARE HAVING A JUNK-OFF https://t.co/jPYnudIL36
It all started on Tuesday evening, when biologists from the Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation at Virginia Tech tweeted photos of animals reproductive organs with the hashtag #JunkOff.
Some were really tiny, like this peromyscus (deer mouse)...
I don’t think this poor Peromyscus is going to win any #junkoff contests, but not too shabby for a lil' guy.
... and some were huge, like this harbor porpoise.
Harbor porpoise junk. Photo from @MontereyBayWh #JunkOff
And some animals looked really happy to get their junk out.
@alyb_batgirl - here you go! A very full Desmodus with his junk out! #junkoff
Some looked plain weird, like this crocodile's junk.
Q. How does one examine crocodile genitals? A. Very, very, carefully. Saltwater crocodile by Rob Gandola #JunkOff
And this python (yes, it has two).
Burmese pythons appear to be able to do the YMCA dance with their man-tackle... #JunkOff Via http://t.co/LoFBGwaH4F
And this dark shyshark, which has two claspers.
Male sharks are double trouble, with two claspers. Dark shyshark from False Bay with its #junkoff #sharkscience.
Or this whelk with an elegant-looking junk.
This #JunkOff needs more inverts like this gorgeous #whelk proudly showing off what he got! ;)
Another biologist shared a photo of a macaque, which has brightly coloured junk.
A very angry alpha male Macaque on the Kinabatangan river, Borneo. Just before he threw a log on our boat. #junkoff
And someone shared this photo of a kangaroo's drooping balls.
Hanging your balls off a bungee cord while repeatedly leaping meters in the air. Adaptive? #junkoff
Some junks were interesting shapes, like this black widow's, which is spiral-shaped.
Black widows have corkscrew-shaped emboli - tips break off inside female's repro. tract #junkoff [photo @MikeHrabar]
Others were surprisingly large.
Can't have a #JunkOff without a duck penis! Snapped this beauty by accident and was far too proud of it. Still am!
Eventually people got really excited and shared photos of animals that look like dicks...
@AnneWHilbon How about an animal that basically just looks like a really big..... well, you know. #Junkoff #geoduck
... and even plants...
So the Titan arum we're all getting excited about is Amorphophallus titanum, cuz it looks like...#JunkOff (wiki pic)
... and weird reproductive organs.
Not genitals, but repro organs nonetheless.Scent glands help moths find mates #JunkOff via http://t.co/SfPLjwn919
It's safe to say that this hashtag has definitely opened our eyes.
I think we have all learned from #JunkOff is that what biologists do at work is in fact NSFW for many people