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Weird Facts About Testicles
Weird Facts About Testicles
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Untertitel (151)
0:00
Testicles, balls, nuts, cojones, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnsons; regardless of what you call
0:06
them, you wouldn’t be alive today without this sex organ.
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That being said, testicles are pretty odd.
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They are vital organs outside of the male body, one almost always hangs lower than the
0:15
other, and they contain terabytes of genetic information.
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Let’s start with a really weird testicle fact.
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All male animals have some form of testes.
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But the bush cricket may have the weirdest sized testicles in the entire animal kingdom.
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The bush cricket’s testicles account for 14 percent of their entire body weight.
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Imagine if a 150 pound human had testes that were 14 percent of their body weight.
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That would mean their testicles would be almost 24 pounds.
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Those are some big balls.
0:43
Sticking with the animal kingdom, male right whales have the largest testicles of any organism.
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On average, the right whale testicle weighs around one ton and can produce a gallon of
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semen.
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And if you thought having a one ton testicle was weird, humans decided to take whale testicles
0:56
to a whole new level.
0:58
The Icelandic brewing company Stedji has produced a beer for the country’s mid-winter festival.
1:02
The festival is called Thorri, and the beer they created for it is the Hvalur 2 beer.
1:08
You may be wondering what an Icelandic beer and testicles have in common, well prepare
1:12
to get weird.
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The beer itself is brewed with the testicles of fin whales.
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The fin whale testes are smoked in dried sheep dung, added to the batch of beer, and brewed
1:22
to infuse their flavor in the alcohol.
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So it would seem the weirdest thing about whale testicles is what humans do with them.
1:28
And fin whale testicles are not the only reproductive organs that humans have made into a drink.
1:33
In the 16th through 18th century women in Canada would put beaver testicles in their
1:38
tea or moonshine.
1:40
It was believed that the beaver testicles acted as a contraceptive.
1:43
They didn't.
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All that people got from drinking the beverage was the weird taste of beaver in their mouth.
1:48
Although we use the word testicles which has Latin roots, other languages use the term
1:53
for the male reproductive organ in different ways.
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For example, the word avocado is derived from the Aztec word for testicles.
2:00
This is also true of the word orchid, which is derived from the Greek word for testicles.
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Humans have probably been comparing their testes to nature since the beginning of time.
2:09
This brings us to a unique, yet weird, term that is sometimes used for testicles: blue
2:13
balls.
2:14
The colorful name is given to the sensation that occurs when a male gets sexually aroused,
2:18
but then does not have a release.
2:20
This can lead to an uncomfortable throbbing sensation in the testicles.
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At no point in time do the testes turn blue, and if for some reason they did, that person
2:28
should immediately go seek medical attention, because they have much bigger problems than
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just a little discomfort.
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The scientific term for blue balls is epididymal hypertension.
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The biological reason this occurs is because the blood vessels of the testes expand to
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make room for increased blood flow in preparation for sex.
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This is how males get erections.
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However, the penis is not the only thing that can increase in size in preparation for intercourse.
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The testicles of human males can actually double in size when they are aroused.
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Think about how crazy that is.
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During sex the testes can grow twice as large to accommodate all of the blood flowing to
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the genitalia.
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No wonder someone can sometimes feel light headed after sex.
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If you thought testicles growing twice their normal size was weird this next fact will
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really surprise you.
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Sometimes the testicles can be hidden within the body.
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When a human male is developing in the womb his testicles normally drop down from the
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abdomen, and form in the scrotum outside of the body.
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However, sometimes human males are born with both testicles still inside their body.
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Basically they appear to be born with no testes at all.
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Of course the testicles are still there, they just haven’t descended yet.
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Sometimes when this happens the testicles eventually descend on their own after a few
3:35
months, sometimes they don’t.
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If the testes do remain hidden in the body they oftentimes need to be taken out through
3:41
surgery.
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This normally resolves the problem and allows the testicles to hang freely, but like with
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any surgery, there are risks.
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A risk of having undescended testicles is that the person has a 40 percent higher chance
3:51
of developing testicular cancer, even after they have been operated on.
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But why do the testicles sit outside of the body?
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They are incredibly sensitive and vital to the reproduction of our species, so why aren’t
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they more protected?
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The answer is both surprising and weird.
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The main purpose of the testes is to produce sperm.
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They actually serve no other purpose but to produce sperm and secrete hormones.
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In fact, the average human testicles produces around 200 million sperm every day.
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But why is the organ that ensures the continuation of our species so exposed?
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Why aren’t they inside of the body where they can be protected?
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The reason is because of temperature regulation.
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Sperm survives best around 93 degrees Fahrenheit.
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This is about five degrees cooler than the internal temperature of the body, which is
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98.6 degrees.
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By having the testicles sitting just outside of the body their temperature can be regulated.
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This is done by the scrotum tightening or loosening.
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When it shrinks the testes are pulled closer to the body, and therefore, their temperature
4:46
rises.
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When the scrotum stretches the testicles descend away from the body and their temperature lowers.
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It is a balancing act of the testes to ensure they stay at a viable temperature for sperm
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production and storage.
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This dance of the testicles isn’t just specific to humans.
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Every animal is slightly different.
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For example, elephant testicles are tucked up inside the body near their kidneys.
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So the thermoregulation process and temperature of the testicles is different from animal
5:09
to animal.
5:10
Sperm for all intents and purposes is a data storage device.
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It holds half of the genetic information to make an offspring in the form of DNA.
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This means that the average male ejaculation releases around 15.8 terabytes of data in
5:22
DNA code, which makes the testes one of the largest data storage devices in the world.
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And if having two organs that act like computer hard drives between the legs isn’t weird
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enough, most testicles hang at different heights.
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For most males the left testicle hangs a little lower than the right.
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The reason for this is so that the temperature of one testicle can be adjusted without affecting
5:41
the other.
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If both testes were at the same exact height they would be constantly touching one another,
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and there would be no way to make slight temperature adjustments to either side without affecting
5:49
the other.
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Scientists have no idea why it is the left testicle that hangs lower for most males,
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it may be by random chance, or a yet to be discovered reason that will be just another
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weird fact to add to the list.
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It is important we continue to learn about the world around us and this includes learning
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more about testicles.
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If we don't, some terrible mistakes could be made.
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For example, in the Middle Ages men who wanted sons sometimes had their left testicles chopped
6:12
off.
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It was thought that the right testicle held the sperm to create a male and the left testicle
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held the sperm that created a female.
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It was believed that by cutting off the left testicle, they were all but ensured to have
6:22
a male offspring.
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As science advanced we discovered that the Y chromosome that determines whether an offspring
6:27
will be male or female can be found in the sperm of both testicles.
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Meiosis, which is the process of cell division to create sex cells such as sperm, occurs
6:36
the exact same way in both testicles.
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Therefore, regardless which testicle the sperm that fertilizes the egg comes from, there
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is a 50/50 chance that it carries the Y chromosome and that the baby will be a boy.
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You also have to wonder how awkward it must have been if a man in the Middle Ages cut
6:50
off his left testicle and his next baby was a female.
6:53
He must have felt really silly for treating his testes in such a horrible way.
6:57
Like all organs in your body, testicles make proteins for different functions within your
7:01
cells.
7:02
Interestingly, testicles have the most diverse proteins out of any organ in the body.
7:06
It has been estimated that around 77% of all human proteins can be created in the testicles.
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Around 1,000 of those proteins are unique to the testes alone.
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This is interesting because the human brain only creates around 300 unique proteins.
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So, it would seem that the testicles are sometimes more impressive than even the human brain,
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which might not come as a surprise for some of you when thinking about the males of our
7:27
species.
7:28
On a more serious note, a unique form of cancer that develops in the testicles can be incredibly
7:33
dangerous for men.
7:34
Testicular cancer occurs most frequently in men who are between 15 and 35 years old.
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This is a younger age group than most other cancers.
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Testicular cancer can be dangerous and even fatal.
7:44
It is estimated that around 8,700 new cases of testicular cancer are diagnosed every year
7:49
in the United States alone.
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Of these 8,700 hundred men around 380 will die.
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So, testicular cancer is not something to be taken lightly.
7:57
The testicles are truly unique organs, and if nothing else, they are definitely weird.
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Whether it is their unique size and shape, or the crazy things we do with them, who knows
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what discoveries the future holds for these male reproductive organs.
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Now check out “Weird Facts about Male Body.”
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Or watch “Weird Facts About Female Body.”
