Motus Mentis

I’m still feeling a bit blogged-out this week, and tonight, after a long day of working and teaching, I haven’t anything of substance to write about. I’ll just leave you, then, with an uplifting little news item about the discovery of a new species in the Philippines. (It is most unusual in this day and age to find new species of large animals, and according to the story this event ranks right up there with the discovery in 1992 of the Saola, a bovine creature of the Indo-Chinese forests.)

The honoree in this case is a man-sized monitor lizard, and it is unusual in at least two respects. First, unlike its relatives in Indonesia, it eats no meat; we are told that it is “entirely peaceable” and dines on fruit. Second, it is equipped with not one, but two penises — and apparently it makes up for its gustatory meekness with some mad skillz in the sack:

The two penises are often used in alternation, and sometimes contain spines or hooks that serve to anchor the male within the female during intercourse.

“In alternation”! Just imagine.

Learn more here.