The discovery made marine biologists downright giddy. They spotted it swimming in the waters off Hawaii during a competition pod—a pod of male whales competing to mate with a female.
Whale penises are famously oversized. Herman Melville even suggested in Moby Dick that one could use a sperm whale’s dick as a floor-length apron to stay tidy while skinning the rest of the animal.
Size
Among the earth’s largest animals, blue whales can reach up to 200 tons. They also have hearts that could fit into Volkswagen beetles and stomachs capable of carrying a ton of krill. But their genitalia might be the most impressive aspect of these mammoth creatures. In fact, their penises can be as long as a Boeing 747!
As part of their mating ritual, these creatures are known to stab their female companions with their giant phallus in a bid to inject sperm into her body. Unfortunately, the resulting injuries may not be all that pleasant for the females. As a result, some whales have adapted by developing folds outside their vaginas that help ward off rival males.
However, not all whales have this advantage, and some females may end up impregnated by several suitors. In an effort to avoid this, some males travel in packs of dolphins to ward off competition and give their chosen partner a better chance at conception.
One such case was recently documented by a group of whale watchers who were lucky enough to witness male right whales fighting for the rights of one female. While watching the battle, one of the observers noticed that a male whale’s “privates” were not so private anymore. In fact, this particular penis was a whopping six feet long!
Function
It’s no surprise that blue whales have the biggest penises in the animal kingdom, which can be eight to ten feet long and have a foot-long diameter. But what is less clear is why. The answer may lie in their sperm production and mating strategies.
Like other mammals, whales rely on a male’s penis to fertilize the female’s egg cells during reproduction. And while whales’ genitalia are not exposed, they still need a place to store the sperm. “This is why the scrotum is an important part of their anatomy,” writes Emily Willingham for the Avery Blog. “It allows the sperm to remain at a lower temperature than the body, which is necessary for effective fertilization.”
But unlike men, whales have no nipples. Instead, their sperm is stored inside their testes, which also help them produce the thickest semen in the world. This thick sperm can withstand the pressure of the ocean and is ejected through the mouth during intercourse.
While a recent TikTok video of a gray whale’s privates has sparked controversy, wildlife scientist Vanessa Pirotta notes that it is unlikely that the penis was bitten off during a battle for dominance. That’s because gray whales don’t have teeth—only those hair-like baleen strands. The penis is hidden beneath the whale’s bottom side, which can be whipped out through an opening called the uro-genital slit when needed.
Variation
Like most male genitalia, whale penises are quite variable in size and shape. They can be spiky or straight, curly or forked. The variation is even more striking when compared to the male genitalia of land mammals, which are more uniform in appearance and size.
The largest penises in the animal kingdom belong to blue whales, whose phallus is eight times their body length. Their testicles can weigh a ton and produce gallons of sperm. These massive ejaculates are then inserted into the female’s vulva to fertilize her eggs during mating.
When it comes to sperm production, male dolphins and whales aren’t quite as prolific as their larger cetacean counterparts. But they do have the longest penises of any mammal in relation to their body size, averaging about 10 feet long (per Roaring Earth).
While it’s unlikely that this alleged whale “dick” was bitten off by a shark, it is possible that this piece of phallic flotsam was discarded by a female whale in search of a suitable mate. That’s because sperm whales are notorious for their sex-drive, with a single sperm capable of fertilizing up to 200 eggs. These whales are a bit of a matchmaker’s delight, with each animal having its own unique sperm characteristics and a specialized sperm-secreting gland called the scrotum.
Fun Facts
One of the most interesting things about a whale penis is how large it can be. The largest mammal in the world, blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus), have penises up to 10 feet long, according to Roaring Earth. The elongated appendages are a male’s primary method of fertilizing female whales during reproduction.
The phallic appendages also serve other purposes, including guarding the sperm from abrasions and keeping it at the right temperature for release during mating. The organs are surrounded by a layer of fat that provides insulation. The fat can even be used to help the animal dive and swim faster.
It’s no wonder that whale penises are so massive. A dried tip of a blue whale penis is on display at the Icelandic Phallological Museum in Reykjavik, and it’s visibly bigger than most men’s penises. In fact, if humans had the same penis-to-body-sized ratio as barnacles, our genitalia would be eight times our body’s length!
Researchers have speculated that the legendary sea serpent creatures sighted by sailors over the centuries might actually have been whale penises floating on the surface of the water. A TikTok user named @bootscootinaf redefined beachcombing in Australia when she discovered a “sea creature” that turned out to be a humpback whale penis. The discovery sparked a wave of TikTok clips that have earned millions of views.