MaTinG RiTuAL

Mating ritual of another kind.

What you are going to see in this entry to come is definitely not RAted but a miracle work of Mother Nature.

Caught 'Life in the Undergrowth' on Arts Central at 10pm (wed)yesterday and was blown away by the elaborate albeit slimey (crikey!) mating ritual of the Leopard Slugs. Goodness, sex never looked more luminous than this.

The below pics are courtesy of: http://members.optushome.com.au/awnelson/davidavid/slug/

Taa dah! May I present to you the visual mating ritual of the Leopard Slug for those who missed the docu last night.

1st stage: The two sticky slimey lovers will tangle up in each others soft tender embrace and leaving a sticky and thick and tough trail of slime while hanging upside down from a tree branch. (Sorry, I can't differentiate which is male or female :p)




















2nd stage: Aroused, each slug's reproductive organ starts to show. The white-bluish thingy is IT.




















3rd stage: The sexual organs of each slug gets longer and longer and bluer and bluer. Reminds me of the luminous blue flame of the bunsen burner that I experiment with during chemistry lab class.





















4th Stage: The sexual organs also entangle up in each other to aid fertilization.
































5th stage: The organs start to fan out in a pretty shape. Amazing muscles to flex! Looks like a lil flower ready to bloom.

Last stage: Fertilized and the slugs will go on their separate ways. No, they do not go ROM and dig a burrow to set up a home.

P/S: I suddenly feel like eating 'la la' and 'gong gong'.