I ask you the biggest animal in the world, you will certainly not hesitate to blurt out the blue whale, but I ask you the largest animal in the testicles, you may ponder for a long time, and then look at yourself, and reply: The blue whale is the largest, the testicles should also be the largest, anyway, it is certainly not me. In fact, the largest animal in the testicles is the right whale, weighing up to 500 kilograms, the egg weight of the blue whale is one-twentieth of it, and the right whale is a well-deserved "egg Mac".
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="4" > the reason behind the right whale's huge eggs</h1>
1. Increase hit rate
To understand the causes of large eggs, we must first understand the life habits and breeding behavior of right whales. Right whales are a species of baleen whales, adult body length of up to 18 meters, weighing 100 tons, because of its huge food intake, so the density of right whales in the sea is small, often mother and child companion. Right whales mature sexually at about 6 to 12 years, with a reproductive cycle of about 5 years and a gestation period of 1 year, and usually the mother whale can only give birth to one child.
The reproductive rate of the right whale population is too long, so this requires male right whales to have a higher hit rate and improve the probability of fertilization, animals often in the process of evolution over the years, the reproductive mode has matured, while improving the viability of sperm, it will also make a big fuss about the number, that is, we say "the quality is not enough, the quantity is made up", then in such a special environment in the water, sperm will flow out with the seawater, which requires male right whales to produce more sperm to ensure that there are warriors rushing to the deep palace.
As we all know, sperm is produced by the testicles, so if you want to produce a large amount of production, you must have large manufacturing equipment, how big is the specific need? Compared with humans, the male one-time elasticity is about 5 milliliters, which is one of the nine cents for right whales, and the right whale can play up to 5 gallons per time, which is equivalent to 23 kilograms, and it is not an exaggeration to say that a sperm bath is enough, so it is necessary to produce so many sperm.
2. Right whale reproductive competition
For creatures like right whales, unlike many animals on land, they are polygamous. During the breeding season of right whales, large numbers of right whales gather for a huge breeding campaign. Although female right whales will mate with multiple males, each male's sperm will not accumulate in vain, and will have the opportunity to mate with the female, which also raises the question of whose child the female right whale will conceive.
Male right whales are also a more selfish creature, each of them wants to let the female conceive their own species, it is this way of competition, but also prompts the right whale to produce more sperm, on the one hand, to increase the chance of fertilization, on the other hand, to use their own sperm to wash away the sperm left in the female of the previous male.
3. Where to put such a large testicle?
The right whale is also a know-it-shy animal, even if it has to carry 1,000 pounds of behemoths every day, when it does not mate, it will not expose the testicles and genitals, but hide inside the body, careful observation will find that there will be a slit in the body of both females and males, which is where the reproductive organs are hidden, and the female right whale will also hide the chest in it, and will not expose the breast until breastfeeding. Therefore, it is difficult to distinguish between male and female right whales in normal times.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="15" > other large testicular organisms</h1>
1. Fruit flies and bush crickets
According to scientists, there is still another kind of testicular largest organism in the world, but the largest thing mentioned here is not absolutely large, but relatively large, which accounts for a large proportion of itself. This record has previously been maintained by a species of fruit fly, but fruit flies dwarf this animal.
Bush crickets make up 14 percent of their testicles, while fruit flies make up only about 10 percent. The two testicles that occupy almost its entire abdomen provide good reproductive ability for bush crickets, but this is not reflected in the number of sperm, because bush crickets do not eject as much as other species of crickets when mating.
After further research, scientists found that this reproductive ability is reflected in the number of mating, bush crickets after a mating, rest for an hour can mate again, while other crickets will reach 5 days of time, it seems that the large testicles can indeed be better in the competition of races, it is really an inch long and an inch stronger!
2. Sperm competition in gorillas
The two organisms mentioned above are all the characteristics of the entire population, and there is no contrast between individuals, so there is no strong persuasiveness, and the creature mentioned below has obvious two-level differentiation in the size of the testicles between the populations. We know that chimpanzees are a social animal, so the number of male chimpanzees in this tribe determines the size of their testicles.
Why? In a tribe with more males, female chimpanzees will mate with all male chimpanzees, which gives rise to what we call sperm competition, and males need larger testicles and produce more sperm to gain an advantage in the population. And when the number of males in a population is very small, or even only one male, there will be no such competition, as long as the sperm is enough for these male and female chimpanzees, so some "wives and concubines" males often have very small testicles.
3. "Detoxification" for competition?
A molecular genetics institute in Germany has made a new discovery that the sperm of mice will produce a disturbing signal, poisoning other sperm, leaving them in place and not being able to continue to move forward, while they themselves have a great motivation to swim forward and find eggs.
This sperm is called t-haplotype sperm, which is more motility than other sperm, and due to the genetic mutation on chromosome 17, it will release chemicals during exercise, and the antidote will be released after the egg is combined, but everything is too late, and the t-haplotype sperm has long occupied the highlands. Competition between sperm is not just about brute force and luck, but sometimes by special means. It can be seen that in order to stand out in the struggle for survival, animals are really full of tricks!
Natural selection, such a living environment, and the breeding method of the population have created a special physiological structure of right whales. Not only can itself weigh 50-90 tons, and polyandry does not produce competition between males, then turn this competition to the competition of sperm, coupled with the female who only produces one child per year, the competition is even more intense, so much pressure, the evolution into the largest testicles is also forced by the situation. Not only right whales, but every species in the world must take reproductive issues into account, and good genes are the trend of the times, so it is not surprising that some animals have evolved in order to better pass on the generations. Are readers aware of any similar events?