Thursday, July 07, 2005
The Mating Rituals Of Slugs
And moving on to the bizarre, file this under 'things you never wanted to find out when you can't sleep':
"...During courtship, two slugs will circle each other, often for hours, with both partners engaged in ritualized bouts of lunging, nipping, and sideswiping with their tails. The two slugs may also display their disproportionately large sex organs. The great gray garden slug's penis is nearly half its total body length...
...Now the slugs must disengage -- a challenge for two animals so amply endowed and thoroughly covered in sticky mucus. After long bouts of writhing and pulling, the pair may resort to what scientists call apophallation."
Need an illustration of this wonderful process? Of course you do. And a video of its denouement? Naturally.
It's like slowing down to watch a car crash...
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