Baby in Iraq first human documented with three penises

Also known as triphallia, the Kurdish baby from Duhok is the first human to have been documented as such, according to Dr. Shakir Saleem Jamali in a study on the find in the academic periodical the International Journal of Surgery Case Reports.

Having more than one penis isn't new. Someone with two penises is known to have a condition called diphallia. As the study noted, it occurs in around one in every 5-6 million live births. However, the three-month-old boy has three. Despite this, only one could be called the "true penis," since the others do not possess urethrae and cannot function normally. 

The two supernumerary penises were surgically removed, with no adverse effects reported. 

According to The New York Post, the cause for the anomaly is unknown. The child wasn't exposed to any sort of drugs while in the womb, and there isn't any history of genetic aberrations in the family. 

While this is the first case ever documented, it isn't the first claim. Back in 2015, a two-year-old boy in India made headlines for having been born with three penises. The extra two were removed for the same reason as the current case, according to the Daily Mail. However, there is no medical study in an academic journal documenting this claim, so it remains unverified.

Diphallia was first formally reported in 1609, and cases continue to arise.