A whale penis apparently washed up on the shores of Magnetic Island in northern Queensland, Australia. The discovery went viral after being uploaded on the social media platform TikTok this week. While various speculations suggest it could be an animal part or an internal organ, experts say the only way to be sure is through close examination of it by scientists.
Viral TikTok Video
The viral TikTok video was uploaded by someone with a username "@bootscootinaf" who can be heard describing the unknown animal part and saying that it is massive that is comparable to the size of her leg. The 17-second TikTok footage had a hashtag that the location was in northern Queensland.
@bootscootinaf Replying to @Dave as requested guys- here is a better video. What do you think it is? #australia #northqueensland #fyp ♬ original sound - moonlight
As the uploader showed a mixture of disgust and confusion, other TikTok users express their theories of what it is. One commenter said it could be the right leg of Patrick, a fictional character from the cartoon series "SpongeBob SquarePants," which resemble the appearance of a starfish.
Furthermore, other commenters have speculated it could be a giant tongue or a human leg. Alternative sources say it looks like severe flesh tentacle or animal flesh in general. However, experts reportedly say it could be part of intestine or penis of a whale, which both are currently the strongest theory of what the large animal part is.
The TikTok clip garnered around 100,000 likes, over 4,000 comments, and more than 1,200 shares. It also went viral on other social media platforms, including YouTube. The clip, which also received millions of views, was found and filmed by TikTok user Afri Gregory in real life.
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Potential Whale Penis
In a separate YouTube video uploaded by the channel Guardian Australia, a narrator made reference to the viral video uploaded by the TikToker, who claimed it was a whale penis washed up on the Australian beach. The Guardian narrator then cited wildlife scientist Dr. Vanessa Pirotta that it could be a whale penis.
The Macquarie University Zoologist Dr. Pirotta cautioned that we do not actually know what the dismembered flesh is, which had a size of a meter and a half. She also told Newsweek that it could be anything from a "juicy component" of a random marine creature like a shark liver, as cited by Science Alert.
Meanwhile, the video also cited Griffith University's marine scientist Dr. Olaf Meynecke, who also watched the video, reportedly asserted that the coloration and the appearance of the appendage belong to a marine mammal. This means that the flesh could not be from a shark since they are not mammals. Whether it is a penis or not, scientists will have to examine the part forensically, Dr. Meynecke adds.
Humpback Whales
The unknown animal part was found in an area known for humpback whale sightings. Being the largest living animal, blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus) have some of the most having giant penises across the animal kingdom. Their penis size reportedly has an average of 2.5 to 3 meters (8 to 9.8 feet) long and larger than humans.
In recent years, animal carcasses with some of their body parts have been reported washed up in several shores around the world. Deaths of these animals were linked either to predation, stranding, vessel strikes, storms, and among others.
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