OOSIKS ( oosicks)

(Fossil & modern penis bones, baculum)

Yes, some animals do have a real bone as the sexual organ, such as seal, polar bear, raccoon, walrus, mink, coyote, beaver, river otter, badger and red fox!  When they fossilize they are often used in carving knife handles.  Large walrus oosiks are even made into cribbage boards!

This is an example of a particularly large walrus oosik owned by a pottery artist in North Carolina.   This one is not fossilized - it is from a walrus hunted legally by Eskimo people and carved (in this case a face is carved in one end) so it can be sold outside of Alaska.

average 1000 years old, found on St. Lawrence Island in Alaska

Fur Seal oosik, 5", both ends incomplete. 

Fur Seal oosik, 4-3/4", both ends chipped. 

Fur Seal oosik, 3-1/3" long, both ends worn. 

Fur Seal oosik, 3-3/4" long, narrow end worn, chip from surface layer (stabilized). 

average 1000 years old, found on St. Lawrence Island in Alaska, collective by native Inuit Eskimo each spring

These can no longer be removed from Alaska without artwork on them, so when these are gone, they're gone!

#F-670A  OKAY so it's not a fossil, but it's an Oosik - raccoon to be exact.  2-1/2" long, one end chipped.  Ladies in the  Deep South always carry one in their purse, and they're found in many restaurants in the South.  They're called pecker picks (they make  great toothpicks!).  BELIEVE IT OR NOT, it is true, folks.     

#F671  Average 5" 

#F-672  Average 4"  

#F-673  Average 3" (see the trough that runs down the center).  

#F-675-A   2" long.  

#F-675-B  Average 1-1/2" long.  

#F675-C  Average 2" long

Ode to an Oosik

Strange things have been done in the Midnight Sun, and the story books are full..

But the strangest tale concerns the male magnificent walrus bull!

I Know it's rude, quite common and crude, perhaps it is grossly unkind;

But with first glance at least, this bewhiskered beast,  is as ugly in front as behind.

Look once again, take a second look--then you'll see he's not ugly or vile--

There's a hint of a grin, in that blubbery chin, and the eyes have a sly secret smile.

How can this be, this clandestine glee that exudes from the walrus like music

He knows, there inside, beneath blubber and hide lies a splendid contrivance - the Oosik!

"Oosik" you say..and quite well you may, I'll explain if you keep it between us;

In the simplest truth, though rather uncouth, "Oosik" is, in fact, his penis!

Now the size alone of this walrus bone would indeed arouse envious thinking

It is also a fact, documented and backed, there is never a softening or shrinking.

This, then, is why the smile is so sly, the walrus is rightfully proud.

Though the climate is frigid, the walrus is rigid, pray why is not man so endowed?

Added to this, is a smile you might miss..though the bull is entitled to bow