Biologists are posting animal genitalia to Twitter, and it's a wonder to behold

By Fusion Staff  |  August 27, 2015 | 2:19pm
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Biologists, they’re just like us! They eat, they sleep, and sometimes they spend days on end posting images of animal genitalia to Twitter. Just like us!

#JunkOff, previously the defunct home of a small number of Spanish-language tweets from 2012, has become a thriving garden of animal genitals. It started a couple days ago, when Anne Hilborn, a graduate student in biology at Virginia Tech, was tweeting back and forth with a labmate and with her advisor Marcella J. Kelly. Per Gizmodo‘s Throb blog, Hilborn added some of her own collection of animal junk photos to the mix, and #JunkOff was born.

Here’s how it started, in Zoolander-esque fashion:

Hilborn kicked things off.

Other eager biologists flocked to the hashtag.

Even when there was nothing to see.

Not to be outdone, botanists got in the mix

A Titan Arum even showed up.

Some of the genitalia might be hard to recognize, but rest assured: it’s junk.

Over the past couple days the photos have continued to pile up.

But, some mysteries do remain.

The truth is out there.

Ethan Chiel is a reporter for Fusion, writing mostly about the internet and technology. You can (and should) email him at [email protected]

 
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