Reappraising the exteriorization of the mammalian testes through evolutionary physiology

Abstract

A number of theories have been proposed to explain the exteriorization of the testicles in most mammalian species. None of these provide a consistent account for the wide variety of testicular locations found across the animal kingdom. It is proposed that testicular location is the result of coordinate action of testicular tissue ecologies to sustain preferential states of homeostatic equipoise throughout evolutionary development in response to the advent of endothermy.

Keywords

• endothermy
• balanced ecological hypothesis
• exteriorization of the testes
• scrotum
• gubernaculum