While fertility experts are of the opinion that a man’s ability to father children does not necessarily depend on the size of his manhood, the same cannot be said for reptiles.
Till date, there is no evidence that the length of a man’s penis directly affects his fertility, reports the Medical Daily. But a new study has suggested that men with smaller penises may be more prone to fertility problems, compared to the others.
Researchers tracked more than 800 men who visited a sexual health clinic over a period of three years. On the average, the penises of men who were infertile were around a third of an inch shorter than those of men who were fertile.
The publication reports that while fertile men had an average length of 5.27 inches, infertile males live with 4.92-inch male sexual organ.
“It may not be a striking difference, but there was a clear statistical significance,” said lead researcher, Dr. Austen Slade of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, USA.
Slade was quick to assure that men with shorter penises do not need to worry about fertility — at least for now. “It remains to be determined if there are different penile length cut-offs that would predict more severe infertility,” he said.
It’s a different ballgame in the animal kingdom, though; especially among reptiles, where the size of the penis is significant when it comes to breeding.
Two Polish crocodiles, Hektor and Luiza, had mated for nearly 50 years, but have so far been unable to successfully breed. This made zoo keepers to wonder why.
After several tests, specialists discovered that the penis of the male crocodile, known as Hektor, is too small to fertilise Luiza’s eggs.
For nearly 50 years, Hektor and Luiza have been together at the Poznan Zoo in the city of Poznan, in western Poland’s Greater Poland Voivodeship region.
They first arrived at the zoo when they were both small way back in 1973. Keepers had long been puzzled why they had failed to produce offspring despite their clear enthusiasm for each other during the annual breeding season.
Hektor has been spotted on top of Luiza every year and his frantic efforts often turn their pond into foam, according to keepers — yet, Luiza has never laid fertilised eggs.
Malgorzata Chodyla, from Poznan Zoo, said: “Eggs were produced several times, but nothing came of it.
“Our staff had no idea what was the reason for the failure. The truth only came to light during the visit of specialist doctors from Germany.
“The cause of the lack of offspring was only discovered when specialist veterinary doctors visited the zoo and discovered Hektor’s small penis.”
And though the vets had toyed with the idea of putting Hektor and Luiza through IVF treatments, it soon turned out that the two reptiles are unsuitable.
Ms Chodyla said: “Apart from the fact that Hektor and Luiza are already too old, this is an expensive procedure that is used only for endangered species.”
And for humans, IVF specialists warn that a couple should seek fertility treatment after one year of unprotected sex that does not result in pregnancy.
They add that age can affect the success of fertility treatment, stating that the earlier a couple seeks treatment, the better the chances of success.
