Sorry, Men! Size DOES Matter — And It Has For Over 12 Million Years
Females won't have it any other way.
Are you in the "it's not the size of the boat, it's the motion of the ocean" camp, or are you a proud team member of "go big or go home"?
The size matters debate can get as heated as Starbucks versus Dunkin Donuts, or even Yankees versus Red Sox, but did you know it's been a hot topic for a long time? 12 million years ago to be exact. And we have some ancient bear ladies to thank.
Researchers recently studied penis bones (as they often do) from an extinct bear species and discovered some pretty big things.
First off, these bears, named Indarctos arctoides, are ancestors of the modern bear and lived in Europe. But more importantly, their shockingly large penis bones suggest they enjoyed long-lasting sex with the ladies.
They're about the same size as a polar bear, who have baculas (penis bones) around 7.3 inches long, yet Indarctos arctoides' baculas come in at around 9.1 inches long on average. Wow!
Paeleobiologist Juan Abella believes female bears picked their mates based on penis size. And according to the study, the male bear's large package "could have helped keep the female bear's reproductive tract in the best possible position for fertilization." Plus, long rolls in the hay? These gal bears knew what they were doing.
So did they get it on all day long? Actually, paeleobiologists think the Indarctos arctoides probably went for long periods of time without getting busy because the ancient bear had to roam for miles and miles in search of ladies of its kind.
See, even well-endowed bears don't settle.