# Tell us an interesting random fact you stumbled across (Part 2) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 25, 2024, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785 "2024-07-25T15:06:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 171
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2025, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3401 "2025-10-18T20:35:09Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > but in birds it’s the females who have two (Y and W). Sorry, obvious typo that should have been Z and W. > [@Lumpy](#): > > Placental and marsupial mammals; the monotremes have a very complicated arrangement. They certainly do. However, the males have a variety of X and Y chromosomes and the females only a variety of X chromosomes, although there is some relationship to the Z chromosome. Aha! A missing link! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2025, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3402 "2025-10-18T20:50:07Z")
Everything about monotreme sex is complicated. Like, the males have two penises each with two heads, and the females have three vaginas, two for the two penises and one to lay eggs through. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2025, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3403 "2025-10-18T21:31:37Z")
I detect a fellow New Scientist reader! I was considering posting that here too … ! ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2025, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3404 "2025-10-18T21:38:27Z")
Bingo! Was that anything you’d been aware of earlier? ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2025, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3405 "2025-10-19T11:51:44Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Everything about monotreme sex is complicated … and I thought duck reproduction was complicated. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2025, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3406 "2025-10-19T14:41:49Z")
To say nothing about parasitic life cycles. If human sexuality is at times indecipherable, it stands to reason on account of everything reproduction related being the ultimate multi-factor tradeoff. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2025, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3407 "2025-10-19T17:28:44Z")
As far as I can tell, while it’s true that male monotremes have multi-headed penises (echidnas have four), female monotremes not only don’t have three vaginas, they don’t have any. They have cloacas that serve as one passage for urination, defecation and reproduction. “Monotreme” means '“one hole”. You may be thinking of opossums, which do have two vaginas (and uteruses) with a separate birth canal that develops just before delivery. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2025, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3408 "2025-10-19T17:43:01Z")
And cloaca is Latin for “sewer”. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2025, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3409 "2025-10-19T18:19:16Z")
That sounds like some kind of monkey paw story. “I wish I had multiple penises.” “Done! But your sex partners have no vaginas! Mwah ha ha!” ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2025, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3410 "2025-10-19T18:42:50Z")
Gay guys have been managing to have sex with multiple penises (though only one per body) and no vaginas for a while now. As long as you’re not worrying about reproduction, humans can manage sex without vaginas (or without penises if that’s the preference) just fine! ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2025, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3411 "2025-10-20T04:19:37Z")
Three from today: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur of NPR fame were the uncle and aunt of _Hawaii Five-O’s_ Danno. The father of the Captain of the Captain and Tennille composed the score for _Invasion of the Bodysnatchers._ _In Cold Blood’s_ Dick and Perry were executed on the 100th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2025, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3412 "2025-10-20T04:40:17Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > A lot of modern retellings of fairy tales are sanitized from the original version. For instance, most modern versions of _Cinderella_ omit the self-mutilation that is part of the Grimm brothers’ version. The Grimm brother’s version is not the original version, though. And it differs significantly from the tale most of us are familiar with. It doesn’t even have a fairy godmother in it. The Disney film with the fairy godmother and the glass slipper appears to be based on the 1697 Perrault version that was written over a century before the Grimm version. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2025, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3413 "2025-10-20T12:39:29Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur of NPR fame were the uncle and aunt of _Hawaii Five-O’s_ Danno. I’m not sure I knew that, but I did know that James “Danno” MacArthur’s mother was Helen Hayes. ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Mark\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2025, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3414 "2025-10-20T21:54:13Z")
Thirty percent of the world’s arable land is dedicated to growing feed for livestock. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2025, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3415 "2025-10-20T22:13:37Z")
I’m sure there are those who will decry that, but it’s probably more nuanced than a simple “we could feed so many more people”. At least in the case of cattle they primarily live on grazing land which in some cases would have been marginal for humanly edible crops; typically they’re only fed grain to fatten them up prior to slaughter. Hogs allow us to convert corn, which provides calories but for humans is protein deficient, into high quality protein and fat. Ditto chickens. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2025, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3416 "2025-10-21T00:18:28Z")
King George III of England never left his country. He didn’t go to Ireland before or after it was made part of the United Kingdom in 1800. Nor did he go to Scotland or Wales. Apparently he never went to northern England either. However, he did collect 65,000 books and 14,000 pamphlets. A non-traveling collector. My kind of guy. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2025, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3417 "2025-10-21T00:40:34Z")
> [@scudsucker](#): > > … and I thought duck reproduction was complicated. Check out **Bonk** by Mary Roach for the intricacies of pig artificial insemination. Among other things. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2025, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3418 "2025-10-21T00:55:46Z")
My favorite is the following: a man gets **one** wish from a genie, so he says “I wish my cock reached all the way to the ground!” whereupon the genie cuts his legs off. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2025, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3419 "2025-10-21T02:17:37Z")
never mind ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2025, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/3420 "2025-10-21T06:41:58Z")
This brought to mind Mattias Buckinger, a man of the 18th century who was born with no arms or legs. He taught himself to write and draw intricate etchings and toured England demonstrating his skill and performing magic and on various musical instruments. He was married four times and fathered 14 children,leading to the 1811 slang term “Buckinger’s Boot” for the vagina. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=170) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785.md?page=172)