Sarah Mesnick, who works with NOAA’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, for answers. And while we can catch glimpses of dolphin penises ready for action, it is far more difficult to figure out what is happening up in their vaginas. Their hosts live far offshore where we can’t see them and even when we do find them it’s tough to get close and challenging to stay long enough to witness them in the act. To do this requires understanding both sides of the mating equation.īut, let’s be honest – all gender biases aside, studying vaginas can be a formidable challenge, especially in ocean-roaming species such as whales and dolphins. This is especially important when it comes to endangered or vulnerable species, like marine mammals we need to know how, when, and where they reproduce in order to accurately predict how our actions (fishing, coastal development, pollution) may affect a species’ survival. If the goal of fisheries management is to optimize the growth potential of wild populations, we’ve got to know the basics about what makes a population grow (successful sex and reproduction) and shrink (mortality). Second, and on a more practical level: without basic understanding of reproductive strategy, we can’t effectively manage natural populations. First, a gender bias in research subjects skews our basic understanding of sexual selection and evolution as a result of a preference for sperm and penis studies over female genital investigations, we have underestimated the role of female choice and selection in influencing the course of evolution.
Surprisingly, the research imbalance is likely due to longstanding gender stereotypes and not perhaps the more common assumption that it’s just easier to observe and study penises than vaginas.Īs science journalist Ed Yong recently noted, this is a troublesome trend. (It’s also apparent in the museum scene, too-sadly, today, there’s no vagina equivalent to rival the Icelandic Phallocological Museum). Right now, penises get far more attention than vaginas in the science world. Response last updated by Terry on Oct 17 2016.It’s not easy to study a whale vagina. How it got mis-applied to whales specifically is an oddity. After, believe it or not, a conversation with a marine biologist at Scripps, we determined that "dork" never referred to any scientific description of a whale member. About a year ago I had a bet with a friend regarding the "whale" definition. The phenomenon we're discussing isn't people using the word that way - nobody really does! - the phenomenon is people claiming that dork means "whale penis" on the basis of no empirical evidence whatsoever.Īctually, I believe the "whale" definition is simply a common, incorrect definition. Lastly, in answer to those who have tried to rebut these findings by arguing that if enough people use the word dork to mean "whale penis" then it's a valid definition, here's what's wrong with that argument. of Fisheries and Wildlife, John Calambokidis, senior research biologist and co-founder of Cascadia Research, Phillip Clapham of the National Marine Mammal Laboratory and author Richard Ellis (The Book of Whales, Men and Whales, Encyclopedia of the Sea, etc.) - all of whom told me they had never seen nor heard the word dork used in reference to a whale's reproductive anatomy - ever. In particular, there do not appear to be any marine biologists anywhere who vouch for this term.įor good measure, I queried several whale experts - Professor C.
"dork" appears to be slang for generic penises of all types. My conclusion is that there is no special term for whale penis, and particularly not "dork". This is an interesting one, but there is no reliable source that claims that "dork" ever was anything than a meme / hoax / internet-era invention. Conclusion: the term for a whale's penis is: penis
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