Friday, January 26, 2007

Iguana Interruptus

Here is a story I do not think will be surpassed in the category "disturbing news" for some time. This iguana was stopped, in media res as it were, with the type of side effects one hears about at the end of the Viagra adds. The fetching reporter from Reuters chosen to do this story is obviously having a bit too good of a time to which I attribute the absence of Y chromosome. Moreover, despite years of nature show viewing, study of thousands of animals through study and observation, I did not know (I could not have forgotten) that an Iguana is bipenied. A friend of mine had an iguana named "fluffy" which came to a tragic end but he never mentioned this aspect of its physiology.

The saltwater iguana of the Galapagos are part of Darwin's research and I await the Darwinian theory as to why this creature is double-barreled.

I now refrain from sophomoric and tasteless commentary on this subject.

3 comments:

Dave S. said...

Well, now you know why your friend chose the name Fluffy.

Assuming that evolution rewards mutations' ability to propagate the species, this particular, ah, feature (JJV took all the euphemisms plus he made up a word* to cover his bets) could hardly be seen as a disadvantage. "Hey, Ladies, and I do mean ladies..."

*"Bipienied"?! I hesitate to search on the term given the likelihood of unsavory hits, but I would love to have the etymology outlined. Mention bugs and I'll smack you one.

jjv said...

It is derived from biped, Meaning two-legged.

Anonymous said...

Snakes and lizards have 2 penises because if they only had one, and crawled up on its belly alongside a female and it was on the wrong side, they would be unable to mate. There's your bit of evolutionary biology 101 for ya!