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For other uses, see Penis (disambiguation). Not to be confused with Peanuts or Penix. This article is about penises of animals in general. For the human organ, see Human penis. "Penile" and "Penes" redirect here. For the community, see Penile, Louisville. For other uses, see Penes (disambiguation). Penis of an Asian elephant A penis (/ˈpiːnɪs/; pl: penises or penes) is the primary sexual organ that male animals use to inseminate females (or hermaphrodites) during copulation.[1][2] Such organs occur in many animals, both vertebrate and invertebrate, but males do not bear a penis in every animal species. Furthermore, penises are not necessarily homologous. The term penis applies to many intromittent organs, but not to all. As an example, the intromittent organ of most Cephalopoda is the hectocotylus, a specialized arm, and male spiders use their pedipalps. Even within the Vertebrata there are morphological variants with specific terminology, such as hemipenes. In most species of animals in which there is an organ that might be described as a penis, it has no major function other than intromission, or at least conveying the sperm to the female, but in the placental mammals the penis bears the distal part of the urethra, which discharges both urine during urination and semen during copulation.[3]