Ostrich
Struthio camelus
30.1 cm (range 28.7 cm–30.5 cm)
Penis length in slaughtered ('obsolete') farm males aged 2–5 years, measured at dissection with a tape measure (erect/flaccid state not stated; post-mortem, so not erect). Range given is the range of age-class means (2–5 years), not of individual birds; SD from Table 2 (the text's ±12.45 cm is inconsistent with the table)
In male ostriches over two years old, measured at dissection, the penis averaged 30.1 cm. It is light red and shaped like an awl, with a groove along the back that carries semen.
Margin note: It is the largest bird alive, which makes it slightly awkward that a duck from Argentina has it beaten.
Sources
- Zhang Y., Ren Z., Tang L. (2011) Anatomic study on the main male reproductive organs of ostrich. Global Journal of Health Science 3(1):181–184 doi:10.5539/gjhs.v3n1p181
- McCracken K.G. (2000) The 20-cm spiny penis of the Argentine Lake Duck (Oxyura vittata). The Auk 117(3):820–825 doi:10.2307/4089612
- Kummrow M.S. (2015) Ratites or Struthioniformes: Struthiones, Rheae, Cassuarii, Apteryges (ostriches, rheas, emus, cassowaries, and kiwis), and Tinamiformes (tinamous). In Miller R.E., Fowler M.E. (eds) Fowler's Zoo and Wild Animal Medicine, Vol. 8, pp.75–82. Elsevier doi:10.1016/B978-1-4557-7397-8.00009-8
- Chapter 48 'Ratites' in Ritchie B.W., Harrison G.J., Harrison L.R. (eds) (1994) Avian Medicine: Principles and Application, pp.1284–1328. Wingers Publishing (chapter author not printed in the hosted PDF) link
- McCracken K.G., Wilson R.E., McCracken P.J., Johnson K.P. (2001) Are ducks impressed by drakes' display? Nature 413:128 doi:10.1038/35093160
Drawn from
- Ritchie et al. 1994, Ch. 48 Ratites, Fig. 48.11: Left lateral line drawing of the cloaca with retracted phallus and the erect phallus (8) with dorsal sulcus (7): long, tapering, J-curved
- Ritchie et al. 1994, Ch. 48 Ratites, Fig. 48.10a: Photo of the erect phallus of a 3-month-old male: firm, conical, curving left, prominent seminal groove (juvenile)
- Zhang et al. 2011, Fig. 2: Dissected cloaca with the penis (A); light-red tissue colour