Twi'leks Anatomy

He was so obese he developed tumors in the form of lekku.

Like marine said, I'd guess it's something that's done to the females when they're still too young to object to it. In most cultures, procedures that girls are subjected to to make them more attractive - foot binding, genital mutilation, neck lengthening, etc. - almost always start early in life. Early enough that they can't really refuse if their parents try to do it to them. If adult women were given the choice to either cut up their genitals or not cut up their genitals, even if a serious social stigma were associated with the choice to not undergo mutilation, I really doubt they would all choose to do it.

I think Talon is plenty vain, but given her chosen career path, I don't think she would voluntarily do anything that would cripple any of her senses.

 

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Nolaa_Tarkona

 

She doesnt seem to have cones though..
Is she more free because she is missing one lekku? Because Aaly a said that the memories of her peoples are saved in the Lekkus.

 

Hm....but her pretty, dancing girl sister did...

 

Lolaa Tarkona!

 

Oola. What's more, Oola was only her half sister, which could very well account for the genetic component of the cone ears...

I'm liking this "cones as mark of beauty" thing.

 

Still, that's a not insignificant operation to be performed to reshape an ear into a cone... which requires significant amounts of technology that probably weren't available on Ryloth, if you think about the planet's history. It only gained advanced flight technology relatively recently, recall, and a lot of its traditions and cultural trappings and behavior and still more tribal than modern - even in terms of dress, accouterments, and technology used.

And if you're looking at it from a genetic sense, it doesn't really work either. The coding for cones would be fairly radically different from that for ears. I suppose if it was a sex-linked trait on a recessive gene that existed for as long as people remember, it could be bred for... but it's certainly not something that could have evolved other than as a significant mutation.

Of course, we're dealing with creatures who have long, semi-prehensile tails with brains in them attached to their heads, without any bone protection in said tails, so...

- Keralys

 

Or perhaps we can go with the subspecies theory, as in the case of Gungans with the Otolla (Jar Jar, Tarpals) and Ankura (Boss Nass).

 

I dont think the lekku are fill of brain, I thnk he meories are rather safed like the heart also can remeber things.

 

It is stated in many EU sources that the lekku contain an extensive portion of the nervous systen, and sustaining damage to the lekku, as in losing one, can cause what can essentially be thought of as brain damage. Most recently, this is touched upon in LotF Sacrifice briefly near the beginning, in respect to everyone's favorite/most despised mutilated Twi'lek: Alema Rar. While they may not be literally simply filled with brain matter, they are a fairly vital part of the Twi'lek anatomy.

 

So what happned then to the twilek guy above who only has one?

 

In real life, some people have half their brains removed for various reasons, or get shot in the head and end up being completely fine with no ill effects (maybe after some rehabilition, but not always). Brain damage does not always affect everyone the same. I'd be willing to extend that to the Star Wars universe as well.