August 27, 2007: Fossilized walrus penis bone auctioned

[Undertoad]

It's Monday, time for the weekly Neatorama Collaboration!



I like the title of this IotD, because after the first word, each subsequent word makes it more and more suitable to be IotD. You knew it could an IotD by the word walrus, but at the word penis it was ensured, at bone it was passing into some kind of perfect IotD zone and when it was finally auctioned, well that's just icing on the cake, or something.

Anyway, the four-and-a-half foot long item, which does not require a bucket, sold for $8000 which was less than they thought it would go for.

4.5 feet long! Ancient walruses were packing! But it didn't keep the species alive, so having a big'un maybe isn't the perfect way to ensure getting some:

The fossilized baculum, or penis bone, is from a species of walrus that went extinct 12,000 years ago. It was found preserved in permafrost in northern Siberia.

The auction house said it was believed to be the largest known mammal penis fossil.

"I'm glad it's going to a museum and not a private collection" so it can on public display, Chait said. "It's definitely something everyone should see once in their life."

Now I've seen it in pics, I don't really need to see it in real life.

Look for more neato items all the time at Neatorama.