How the chicken lost its penis: It sounds like a weird cousin of one of Rudyard Kipling's "Just So Stories for Little Children" from 1902, which featured "How the Leopard Got His Spots" and "How the Camel Got His Hump." But weird or not, this month we explore why almost all birds lack that flagpole of masculinity: the penis.
Back when I was a postgraduate student, a biologist in the department where I worked had a quiet word with my adviser: "Your student," he said, "is obsessed with animal genitalia. There's something wrong with him."
My professor laughed it off. "That's part of his PhD," he said. "I'd be worried if he wasn't thinking about sex all the time."