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1. IMPORTANT FACTORY: It is the most important male hormone responsible for maintaining secondary sexual characteristics (it grows hair and beard, strengthens muscle strength, makes the voice deep and brings out the Adam's apple, influences aggressive behavior and libido). The scrotum is tantamount to an egg shape. During fetal life they are formed in the abdomen and fall only in the last months of pregnancy. However, in some infants, one or both testicles are not in place. In half of the cases they will spontaneously fall in the first year of life. Otherwise surgical intervention is required.
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2. IT IS MADE IN SEGMENTS, LIKE A MANDARIN: The inside of a testicle is like a citrus fruit, with segments ( lobules ): each contains 1-3 seminiferous tubules in which sperm are formed.
But how many? The amount of spermatozoa that an individual produces varies with age and situation. Analyzing the sperm of the males of 15 stable couples it was discovered that the emission is on average 30 million spermatozoa per ml per day, but with great differences from couple to couple. If the man spends little time with his partner, he ejaculates 300 million spermatozoa per ml.
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3. WHY DO TESTICULAR KICKS HURT SO MUCH? : A kick "in the balls" is so bad because the testicles are very rich in nerve endings, which moreover are not protected by a thick layer of dermis, as happens instead, for example, at the fingertips. The density of nerve endings in the two areas is similar, but slamming the fingertips on a table hurts as bad.
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4. THE MAN WITH THREE BALLS: His name was Bartolomeo Colleoni, he was a feared 15th-century Bergamo leader. And three testicles are represented in his noble crest.
His testicle? There are those who hypothesize that the third testicle was actually a perineal cyst, also called accessory testicle or third testicle, due to long rides.
Today these are observed in bicycle cyclists who travel long distances in the saddle. The repeated micro-traumas against the saddle of the perineum (the area between the anus and the genitals) causes the cells to die, which are incorporated by the connective tissue to form a false cyst, similar to a third testicle.
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5. THE BIGGER THEY ARE, THE SMALLER THE BRAIN : The human testicle is about 4-5 cm long and has a thickness of 2-2.5 cm. But in the animal kingdom the size of the testicle varies from species to species: from 0.02% to 0.75 of body mass.
Why these differences? It seems that the size of the testicles is related to the fidelity with the females of the species. Analyzing the testicles of 334 bat species it was discovered that the testicles are larger if the females are more promiscuous. Larger testicles also correspond to less brain.
Conversely, in species where females are monogamous, bats have more brain and smaller testicles.
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6. THE LARGEST PROTEIN FACTORY: Which organ in the human body hosts the highest range of specific proteins? No, it's not the brain, nor the heart. They are the testicles: the sex glands produces 999 different types of specialized proteins. Find out more .
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7. TAP TO SWEAR: In the most ancient civilizations, such as the Babylonian and Egyptian, the testicles were considered sacred, a divine attribute: they ensured descent. That's why they were held with the utmost respect, so much so that solemn oaths were made by laying hands on them. Traces of this custom are also found in the Bible, in chapter 24, verse 2 of Genesis. Abraham asks his servant to swear "placing a hand under his thigh". It is no coincidence that testicles derives from the Latin testis , in the sense of a witness. That is why they are also called holy, jewels of the family, "gift of Jahveh", that is, of God.
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8. MALES "WITHOUT BALLS": As far as we know, the castrati - or eunuchs - is a Chinese "invention", at least 5 thousand years ago.
In most of the ancient kingdoms, from Rome to Greece, from North Africa to China, the eunuchs were guardians of the harem, trusted men and spies of the rulers.
In the 18th century boys are castrated very young to preserve the voice of male soprano, were idolized in opera houses throughout Europe.
It was practiced in children and could be performed in 2 ways: in the first, the testicles could be crushed or completely removed, the penis remained, but fertility was however compromised.
The second way, involved the removal of all genitals, a more dangerous technique due to the risk of infections and because the wound could prevent the urine from escaping. For this reason, after the operation a cannula was inserted to keep the orifice open, and the removed parts were buried in the sand. A week without drinking. Few, less than half, survived.
The practice of using eunuchs in the Vatican choir was later banned only in 1878.