Testicles

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Definition of Testicles
(Scientific name: Testes)

From the elephant glossary Section: elephant anatomy

Not quite alone among the mammals, but close. Male elephants keep their business hidden away. Credit: John Lund

Relevant Literature about Testicles
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Very few male mammal Species have internal sex organs, but the Elephant Testicles or testis (plural testes) of elephants are completely inside the body, situated close to the Kidneys and protected against cold temperatures, for example in cold water.

In most placental mammals, including humans, the testes descend into the lower Abdomen or scrotum during development, which is an important evolutionary process that helps keep them cool and achieve optimal function. Elephant testes, however, do not drop, remaining high in the Abdomen. (The mystery of elephant testes)

This is one of the important indications of a previous water-living phase in the evolutions of elephantine animals like Whales and Sirenians (dugong and manatee), but also hedgehog tenrec, cape golden mole, cape elephant shrew, manatee, elephant, and rock hyrax) do not show any testicular descent and have testes positioned at their initial abdominal position near the Kidneys . (Sharma V et al. Loss of RXFP2 and INSL3 genes in Afrotheria shows that testicular descent is the ancestral condition in placental mammals, 2018)

Roger W. Short writes: "The elephant embryo (like the dugong and manatee) has no gubernaculum, no processus vaginalis, no pampiniform plexus, no scrotum, and hence no means of effecting testicular descent".

Reference list Koehl, Dan, (2024). Testicles. Elephant Encyclopedia, available online retrieved 20 September 2021 at https://www.elephant.se/index.php?id=39. (archived at the Wayback machine)

Sources used for this article is among others:

Short, Roger W. 2005. "Why the elephant has intra-abdominal testes" (On-line), department of obstretics and gynaecology, University of Melbourne, Royal womens hospital, 132 Grattan Street, Carlton 3053. Accessed 30 January 2005 at http://www.publish.csiro.au/?act=view_file&file_id=SRB03Ab59.pdf (pdf)

Selected publications

Sharma V, Lehmann T, Stuckas H, Funke L, Hiller M (2018) Loss of RXFP2 and INSL3 genes in Afrotheria shows that testicular descent is the ancestral condition in placental mammals. PLoS Biol 16(6): e2005293. (See links below)

Links about Testicles

Selected external links for this article about Testicles:

The mystery of elephant testes, https://cosmosmagazine.com/nature/giant-balls-up-scientists-probe-the-mystery-of-elephant-testes/
Sharma V, Lehmann T, Stuckas H, Funke L, Hiller M (2018) Loss of RXFP2 and INSL3 genes in Afrotheria shows that testicular descent is the ancestral condition in placental mammals. PLoS Biol 16(6): e2005293. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.2005293
Chatchote Thitaram; Influence of season, tourist activities and camp management on body condition, testicular and adrenal steroids, lipid profiles, and metabolic status in captive Asian elephant bulls in Thailand, online at https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0210537
Brown JL, Somerville M, Riddle HS, Keele M, Duer CK, Freeman EW. Comparative endocrinology of testicular, adrenal and thyroid function in captive Asian and African elephant bulls. Gen Comp Endocrinol. 2007; 151(2):153–62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ygcen.2007.01.006 PMID: 17336304

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Definition of Testicles(Scientific name: Testes)

From the elephant glossary Section: elephant anatomy

Sources used for this article is among others:

Selected external links for this article about Testicles:

External relevant search

Definition of Testicles
(Scientific name: Testes)