# Fertility & Testicle size link? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 22, 2003, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fertility-testicle-size-link/183609 "2003-06-22T19:11:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![flapcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@flapcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flapcats)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2003, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fertility-testicle-size-link/183609/1 "2003-06-22T19:11:44Z")
Is there any researched link between the ammount of sperm a man produces and the size of his testicles? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2003, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fertility-testicle-size-link/183609/2 "2003-06-22T20:13:30Z")
Fertility? No. As long as the testicles are functioning normally, a pair of small ones will produce more than enough sperm for conception. The key concept is normal function of course. Testicles shrunken (or enlarged) by disease are another matter. However, I would expect that normally functioning large testicles will outproduce normally functioning small testicles. This would be helpful in the situation where one male dominates others, and has intercourse with all the fertile females. [testicle size theory](http://www.neoteny.org/a/testiclesize.html) ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2003, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fertility-testicle-size-link/183609/3 "2003-06-22T20:16:28Z")
I had to include this quote from the above site: It is such a colorful analogy! > [@](#): > > “Large testes and big penises are advantages only under conditions of widespread sexual promiscuity. Among our closest relatives the great apes, only male chimpanzees have testicles more prodigious than those of men. And chimps, with their big, heavy testicles, are more sexually promiscuous than humans. that the sperm-producing organs of chimps and humans are relatively big and heavy strongly suggests that some of our not-so-distant hominid ancestors were far more promiscuous than gorillas and orangutans — or than many people are today. In the evolutionary past, the competition to reach primate eggs was sometimes between sperm from different male donors. If two or more males copulated with the same female within a period of days, an advantage in begetting offspring accrued to the one who ejaculated the greatest quantity of vigorous sperm cells. Like an auto race won by the driver whose sponsoring company can afford to provide him with the most souped-up car, the male with the best-timed copulation, most far-reaching ejaculation, and biggest testicular “engine” able to produce the greatest quantity of sperm tended to win the “game” of impregnation. souped-up genitals with a lot of spermatic firepower, like incredibly expensive streamlined racing cars, are worth it only if there is some sort of race or contest. Otherwise they seem expensive.” (Margulis, L & Sagan, D. (1991) Mystery Dance, On the Evolution of Human Sexuality: Summit Books, New York pp. 33) ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2003, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fertility-testicle-size-link/183609/4 "2003-06-22T20:35:11Z")
Wow, Qadgop the Mercotan, that book is authored by one of Carl Sagan’s wives and children. Just read a Sagan biography. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fertility-testicle-size-link/183609/5 "2003-06-23T00:40:39Z")
:eek: It’s very humbling to find out I’m driving a Cooper Mini… :eek: Cartooniverse p.s. On a more somber and somewhat revealing note, I’m pretty small in the testicular department and am infertile. No Dr. I saw, and I saw a few, ever made a connection that they bothered to share with me. I wonder why. p.p.s. I can’t believe I’m posting this… ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fertility-testicle-size-link/183609/6 "2003-06-23T00:48:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cartooniverse \* > \*\* On a more somber and somewhat revealing note, I’m pretty small in the testicular department and am infertile. No Dr. I saw, and I saw a few, ever made a connection that they bothered to share with me. I wonder why. \*\* Well, to truly evaluate what’s going on inside a testicle, one would need to do a biopsy. And since there’s not much in the way of treatment of infertility when the testes are non-producing in and of themselves, it seems biopsy wouldn’t do much in terms of furthering your ability to produce viable sperm. Now if you had a varicocele on the other hand, surgery there could result in fertility. Did said 'nads descend late? Or were they present in the scrotum from birth? If testes descend late, they tend to be small, infertile, and at a higher risk for testicular cancer. I know I’m probably not making your evening with these statements, **toonie** , but you probably should be aware of these facts for the sake of your future health. I’ll surely understand if you choose to respond to my queries by email, or even not at all, rather than here! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fertility-testicle-size-link/183609/7 "2003-06-23T02:55:51Z")
Large scrotal size is deemed a positive quality in male cattle. At the more modern sales, bulls are evaluated for a number of economically important characteristics. Scrotal circumference is listed in the catalogues right along with growth rate and other factors. Research has shown that bulls with larger scrotal circumference tend to be more aggressive breeders, sire more offspring, and that their daughters will become sexually mature at an earlier age. Although this last trait is clearly desirable in cattle, human dads may not consider it to be such a Good Thing.😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fertility-testicle-size-link/183609/8 "2003-06-24T13:59:27Z")
> [@](#): > > Research has shown that bulls with larger scrotal circumference tend to be more aggressive breeders, sire more offspring, and that their daughters will become sexually mature at an earlier age. \<---------Choking on my morning Smoothie at that one. Thank GOD my daughter’s adopted !!! :eek: ( I always wanted to be an aggresive breeder, dammit…) ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fertility-testicle-size-link/183609/9 "2003-06-24T14:04:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zeldar \* > \*\*Wow, Qadgop the Mercotan, that book is authored by one of Carl Sagan’s wives and children. Just read a Sagan biography. \*\* How many of his children did Carl Sagan marry? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fertility-testicle-size-link/183609/10 "2003-06-24T14:23:50Z")
Eleusis Good catch. I realized it was an awkward sentence when I posted it. Since I wasn’t sure the child was a son (was it Dorion?) I opted for the less specific. I guess it would have been better said as “…one of CS’s wives, and one of his children…” or still better to have said nothing at all. But I just read that bio last week and thought it odd to see that book’s authors in such an unusual thread.